


You, Me & Bee

by NonbinaryHylian (chicagoartnerd)



Series: Without Love There Is No Meaning [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fix-It, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I love all these assholes okay, M/M, Multi, Non-Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Politics, Post-Canon Fix-It, Seeker Trines, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Threesome - F/M/M, Transformers Spark Bonds, Windblade is the special
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-05-15 18:27:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19301344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chicagoartnerd/pseuds/NonbinaryHylian
Summary: Windblade is trying to pull herself and Cybertron back together after Unicron only to be confronted with a familiar problem.Starscream.But at least he's a setback she's used to unlike the one she is thrown after reading Optimus Prime's Last Will and Testament...there's just so much rebuilding left for all of them to do.This is the first fic in a series of three post IDW-canon fix-its. One of them being my Transformers BigBang coming out in August.





	1. Prologue

The sun was streaking pink and gold through the sky as it set over the calm blue ocean in front of Bumblebee. If anyone had walked up on him just then they would have thought he was talking to himself. Instead he was talking to Starscream, or what was left of Starscream, as he was trapped in the Infraspace between their world and many others. Like Bee had been for the last several years. They’d switched places it seemed. 

Life hadn’t been predictable since the end of the war that was for sure. If someone had told him during the war that he and Starscream would be...whatever the heck they were to each other, he would have laughed at them. But that wasn’t even the most surprising development post war.

A part of him always knew that Optimus wouldn’t make it after the war was over. He had always been looking for a cause to die for, ever since he missed his chance with Megatron. In a way Megatron had been looking for the same thing as well.

But of course the Galactic Council had denied him even that. Now he would never be one with the Allspark. Never be allowed to try and atone for his crimes. That bothered Bee the most. Optimus had never wanted to try to atone for the war, Megatron had. And nobody had wanted to let him try. Nobody except the crew of the  _ Lost Light _ . Bumblebee believed he should have been allowed to make the attempt, even if nothing he did could ever undo his own past actions.

Those past actions that had left Starscream such a wreck. Bee had seen the toxic effects of that relationship, millions of years worth of abuse and enmity had twisted Starscream into deeply troubling shapes. He wanted to hate Megatron for it, and on some level he definitely did, but it wasn’t his place to forgive him or judge him. When Starscream had told him bits and pieces of what it was like for the Decepticon High Command his energon had run cold. Well, it would have if he still had any and wasn’t annoyingly incorporeal.

So many impulses he couldn’t act on. He had wanted to offer him comfort, to hold him, and had never been able to. Years of wanting to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder only to watch it falling through his form, limp and unfeeling.

So he had tried to offer strength and affection with his words alone. It hadn’t been enough in the end it seemed. Bee had barely been alive again a week, and only almost touched his hand, before Starscream went off and martyred himself. Seven years of spending almost every single second with him and Bee was...different now. He suspected Starscream was as well, even though he would probably never admit it. 

Yet here they were, once again so close, and unable to feel it anywhere except in their sparks.     

Instead of pinning for him, which he really didn’t want to remember he was doing, he sat silently by his side and watched the sun set below the horizon. The sky turned purple and black at the edges. This was an ending but it wasn’t the end. Not for all the Cybertronians scattered around the galaxy, or the ones on Earth, and not for Starscream.

Not if Bumblebee had anything to say about it.

He turned to his constant companion and tried to say it conversationally, though it came out slightly giddy.“You know Skyfire could probably figure out a way to get you out of Infraspace and into a new body like he did with Optimus and I. You have a strong force of personal will, Infraspace responds well to that. I’m sure it would help if you wanted to get your body back.”

Starscream turned to look at him, face scrunched up in an angry sneer. Honestly it used to annoy Bee but now he just thought it was kinda endearing.

Another thing he wasn’t about to say out loud. Starscream snarled. “He’s still alive is he? Typical. He always thought I wasn’t important enough to tell me about anything he was doing. I don’t need his help, and certainly not some body he constructs for me out of pity. Who says I even want to come back? Maybe I should just try to die like everyone else did.”

Bumblebee shrugged helplessly and averted his optics, his voice was strained. “Well he’s a brilliant scientist and one of the only ones we really have left now that Wheeljack...is one with the Allspark. So maybe I could just ask him and...why wouldn’t you want to come back? Why would you want to die now when-”

Starscream waved his arms angrily at Bee’s face and shouted. “No! No! I don’t want him to know I exist like this. Let them all think I’m dead! It’s not like any of them care, would you want to return to a world where everyone hated you? The whole universe united against you, their only unifying factor being their mutual loathing of you?! You’re the only glitched one who doesn’t actively wish me completely dead so I suppose it’s fitting you’re the only one who can see me.”

Bumblebee knew he was toeing a line as he gently hopped over it. “You know I care about you but do you seriously think no one else does? I know Wheeljack did. What about Windblade? I know she would be glad to learn you didn’t fully die.”

Starscream’s red optics flashed, his voice low and dangerous. “In the end we all die alone. Every last miserable slagger. As for her, tell her whatever you like, I doubt it will matter.”

Bumblebee had been reading Starscream like an open book for a couple of years now. He knew Windblade mattered to him, and whether Starscream would acknowledge it, they both knew Windblade felt the same about Starscream. They were just going to need a little nudge.

Bee knew he hadn’t been a good leader, even though he had tried his best, what he was actually quite good at was meddling. All the information gained during spy missions had always been handy at moving interpersonal relationships along. He smiled up at Starscream’s haughty expression. “Hmmmm hope you like Saturn then, looks like we might be there a while.”

He got a confused look in return and Bee’s grin widened. Who would have ever thought the words “Starscream” and “fun” could have been used together but here they were. Yes, this was going to be an adventure and he hoped it was going to be fun. After everything that had happened they could use a bit more of it. Okay, maybe a lot more. Time to get to work.

He patted the air where Starscream’s arm was and was rewarded with a scowl, it only made his smile bigger. As the sky went black with a blanket of voice and white pinpricks of stars he pointed up at the blinking light that was Saturn and with it Sanctuary Station and the  _ Tellistrad. _ “We’re heading there next. Don’t worry Starscream I’m sure it’ll be fun!”

Starscream mouthed the word “fun” with abject horror on his face as Bee laughed. Yup, fun!     


	2. Optimus's Will

Windblade was on her third day without recharge and her second without fuel. 

After Optimus Prime’s funeral in Little Cybertron she had been swamped with paperwork and every type of comm message from hundreds of people. Some of them were even human.

People asking for resource dispensations, building materials, ships, faster than light transport, energon, and shelter. Unicron had literally bitten a giant chunk out of all of their available resources. The only message that had made her smile was one from Marissa Fairborne asking everyone left on the New Council of Worlds to send Thundercracker a congratulatory message on being the first Cybertronian to win a BAFTA.  

After Unicron, Cybertron was floating around in chunks and a lot of the population had either moved offworld or were holed up on New Luna One. The only titan left now was Trypticon and he was settled firmly on Earth, his cargo of newsparks carefully protected. New Luna One was also bursting with new life. Trypticon’s, and the moon’s, sparks were the first new Cybertronian life in several million years. It was astonishing and it gave her hope. It also gave her a mountain work, only some of it was building permits and funding approvals. There was also a lot correspondence of bots proposing new businesses and projects related to the sparklings. It was simply never ending.    

The demands of her job made it so Windblade hadn’t had time to mourn Metroplex, Metrotitan, or Caminus. As a cityspeaker she had been their friend, their advocate, their caretaker. With Metroplex specifically she had felt like his family. After Chromia was sent after Liege Maximo he had felt like her only remaining kin. Suddenly it was as if a part of her spark was dead. Maybe it was, as there was only one Titan left to commune with and she was pretty sure Trypticon would want nothing to do with her. All the rest of them had died protecting their people. So many had died so that they all could live.

Windblade knew that the war had hardened Cybertronians to death, made them more muted in their grief, but she hadn’t experienced a loss like this before. Chela’s death had haunted her. Now what had seemed like her life’s calling before, had no meaning anymore. She was just a diplomat now she supposed.

Windblade could feel all of this pulling and itching at her transformation seams. She was changing, trying not to hurt herself on the jagged edges of the person she was now becoming. She hoped she wouldn’t be too unrecognizable after all this loss bowed her in unfortunate ways. The change was inevitable but she didn’t have to let it harden her spark, as easy as that would have been to do.

The New Council of Worlds had commandeered her a ship, the _Tellistrad_ , that was now floating in the rings of Saturn, along with a badly damaged Sanctuary Station. Cosmos and Sky Bite were doing outside repairs and she had spoken with Soundwave briefly as he had been doing internal ones. He seemed focused on moving forward and she knew she could rely on him for assistance if something went wrong on the _Tellistrad_. Most of the station’s inhabitants fled to Earth when Unicron’s maximals attacked it and now they were slowly returning to help rebuild. It was another example of hope. If she could keep finding them in the wake of this all she knew she could keep going.

Whomever was left of the New Council of Worlds was living and meeting on her ship now. Knockout, Airazor, Tigatron, and shockingly Elita 1 had all made it out alive. She was glad to see Obsidian had as well. The Mistress of Flame had not been so lucky. They hadn’t been on good terms for years but she had once been her mentor, her leader. Now she was just a bot she wasn’t aloud time to grieve for. And Wheeljack...oh that was another loss she couldn’t bring herself to think about. It was all so new and raw still. Maybe all the work she was buried up to her optics in was a secret blessing. It made her numb enough to not to think about all of her grief.

Caminus no longer existed but she knew their remaining delegation would want to appoint a new delegate, perhaps Pyra Magna, who was now the new Mistress of Flame, or one of her Torch Bearers. More paperwork, more regulations to distract her. She knew that was how Starscream had coped while he was ruling Cybertron. Tons of forms to file, off the books illegal and immoral scheming, and copious amounts of engex. She loved high grade just as much as the next mech but she wasn’t Starscream. Thank Solus Prime for that. He was gone now as well though. She swallowed hard. 

That particular grief would overwhelm her if she wasn’t careful, best not to think of it at all right now. She didn’t have the time to cry and he wouldn’t have wanted her to. She choked on that thought.

Windblade was still considered first delegate of whatever was left of Cybertron, she had responsibilities, a fractured community to run. She had taken a large office near the bridge of the _ Tellistrad _ and was attempting to work on running a planet out of it. 

At least Chromia was alive somewhere on the ship. She had missed her terribly but she was still on shaky ground with the New Council so Windblade couldn’t assign her any official position just yet. The saddest thing was she was relieved.

After Chromia’s actions on Cybertron their amica bond had been severed, she could no longer feel the call of her spark to her own and it ached. It felt like so many holes had been poked in her spark in such a short time. Too much loss. Windblade wasn’t sure they could ever rebuild the bond to what it had been because they had both been different people before the bombings.

She wasn’t sure she knew who Chromia was now. If they both wanted to be amica again they would have to relearn that bond, that trust. The thought was daunting because she wasn’t sure she even wanted to try right now. Everything hurt so much. All of it was raw. Too many other things to grieve and fret over and she knew it would be a hard undertaking. Rebuilding trust always was.

Someone along the way had appointed Windblade a personal assistant to help her deal with all the work, a Velocitronian named Shadow Striker, and it was still too much to do. They were both drowning in work now instead of just her.  

There was one message in her comms she was avoiding.

It was from Optimus Prime.

The time stamp marked it as being sent moments before his descent into the void inside Unicron’s maw. She knew it must have been direly important. She also knew it was probably ten processor jamming headaches wrapped up in the polite finality of plain black text. She took a drink from the pink energon cube in front of her. It was still odd to see pink energon. After all these years the novelty of it still hadn’t worn off. After finishing it off she sighed.

Windblade was about to open it when a ping from Shadow Stalker startled her. “Lady Windblade, Galactic Council representative Bumblebee is here to see you. Should I let him in or make him wait a little first?”

On Velocitron making someone wait was considered a punishment or a slight but she had taken great pains to explain to Shadow Striker that sometimes making people wait was necessary because they were just so damned busy right now.

It was Bumblebee though, she hadn’t even known he was even on the ship, she felt like that was something she should have known. Sweet Solus she was exhausted. 

She rubbed her gold and teal finials and sighed. “No Shadow Striker let him in, also it’s just Windblade, as you well know by now. For future reference you can always let him past, he only ever comes by with urgent news.”

Shadow Striker sent an affirmative ping before she let Bee through and he opened her door after a quick knock. Windblade tried her best to smile warmly at him, she knew it looked thin though. He saw the dark rings under her optics she had tried to hide with her red cityspeaker paint and frowned slightly before taking a seat in one of the many different sized plush red chairs before her desk. She had a lot of human visitors these days and it was only polite to have a chair that they didn’t need a ladder to sit in.

His blue optics flicked to hers in concern as he addressed her. “Hey you know recharging every once in a while is mandatory and not just recommended right?”

She huffed, straightened up taller in her high backed black chair, and addressed him formally. “If I had time to recharge I would have taken it. Believe me. As things stand I am well enough to keep working. What is it that you need Bumblebee?”

He looked guilty before his blue optics met hers again. “I realize you’re under a lot of pressure right now but there’s something important you should know.”

They hadn’t known it each other for very long, well not officially, but he had watched her while at Starscream’s side since she had come to Cybertron so there was this strange unspoken connection between them. It turned out he knew her quite well. Bumblebee spoke to her as an old friend would.

Windblade wished to know him better because of that. He had been in her position once upon a time and knew what it was like. He was clever and resourceful and he was, well he was probably the only other person alive that actually missed Starscream. That was a kind of unspoken understanding between. Also she knew he always wanted to do the right thing and was now in a position to do so as delegate on behalf of Cybertron to the Galactic Council.  

So she waited for him to continue but when he didn’t she frowned. “Please tell me there isn’t another world destroying disaster headed our way. I can only manage one of those a week, two tops.”

Bee laughed hollowly. “No, not that I know of, although I’m pretty sure people have called him a disaster before. Starscream isn’t dead. Well, he is but his consciousness and spark are still here, trapped in Infraspace layered over our world like mine was. I’m not entirely sure how, now that I come to think of it, but I asked him if I could tell you and he said and I quote: ‘tell her what you want, it won’t matter.’ I knew you would want to know though, that it would matter.”

That...was not what she had been expecting.

Her hand flew to her mouth on instinct as she looked curiously around Bee. Nothing much surprised her anymore though, not after the Talisman and Unicron. A shocking jolt of relief had fizzled through her spark at his revelations though. Another life she wouldn’t have to grieve. It probably would have surprised Starscream but she had wanted to mourn him. Had been quietly trying to grieve for him. To not think too hard about why she missed him so much.  

Starscream had been a terrible ruler, but he had been important to her. Not a friend per say, and even more surprisingly by the end, not an enemy. They had weathered multiple storms, some of them thoroughly Starscream’s own doing, and come out the other end stronger. They didn’t trust each other but they weren’t sabotaging each other anymore either. He had willingly given himself up, for all his crimes, before all and sundry and was doing his time before Unicron’s arrival. She had been one of the few people to visit him in prison afterwards. Then he sacrificed his own life so that Optimus and Arcee could make it inside Unicron.

It probably would have surprised everyone to know that his final act wasn’t the only truly selfless thing he had done in his life. She had seen him fight his own nature and do the right thing. Helping her defeat Vigilem being once such instance. He could have let her processor melt and then he would of been rid of her and Vigilem, killed two bots with one stone. But he hadn’t.

Maybe she had Bee to thank for that partially but in the end it had been his choice to do a dangerous cortical psychic patch to save her. He had put his own mind on the line and Vigilem had shown him his deepest fears made manifest. Watching Megatron slag Starscream into a broken sobbing heap had been upsetting. Pit, she had been tortured by Starscream and his memory scene had been harder on her than that. Seeing the ruins of his mindscape and realizing that Vigilem hadn’t done all of that, that the bleak bombed out city they were in was just how his processor normally looked, had made her energon run cold.   

Then there was Bumblebee. No one had been able to see him except Starscream when he had been a disembodied spirit. Everyone had thought Starscream was hallucinating and was too polite to mention it, even he had thought he was losing it.

Until Bee returned with Optimus from Infraspace. It made some twisted sense that it would be the reverse as well, that now Bumblebee was the only one who could see and hear Starscream. Starscream would probably see it as a form of revenge for all those years Bee was nagging at him to be a better person. Somehow their sparks were tethered to each other.

She suspected he was in the room now, over Bee’s shoulder so she addressed him angrily. “Why in Primus’s name did you think it wouldn’t matter? Of course I’d want to know if you were still alive!”

He must have said something snarky and biting because Bee rolled his optics and snorted. Windblade narrowed hers. "Let me guess he said 'Well first off I'm not alive I'm a ghost. Second off, of course you would want to know, I'm a very important thorn in your side.'"

Bumblebee nodded thoughtfully. "You're actually pretty close. He used a lot more swearing, though the sentiment was the same. Are you sure you can't see or hear him?"

Windblade laughed once and Bee flinched slightly. "He said if we're gonna paraphrase him the least we can do is raise our voices. Be glad you can't hear him right now."

She had been on the receiving end of enough of Starscream’s high pitched rants before to know exactly what he sounded like. She was inclined to laugh again but instead she frowned. Was there a way they could speak through internal comms? All three of them needed to speak on relatively equal footing for this to work. Starscream knew he was at a disadvantage and that tended to make him cagey and volatile. Well, more cagey and volatile.

She had become pretty decent at reading him by this point. "Bee do you think you could transcribe what he says in internal comms, and use a datapad to show him what we’re typing so we can all speak?"

Bee sighed. "I guess, although you're gonna miss out on the nuance rich screeching. You know what, be glad you're gonna miss out on that."

Bumblebee took a datapad from his subspace and opened an internal comm channel with her.

_ Windblade: Hey Starscream mind telling me why in hell you haven't tried to get out of Infraspace yet? _

Bumblebee: See I told you she'd think you were wallowing.

**_Starscream: I do not wallow, sulk, or pout. I brood, scheme, and bide my time. There is a marked difference you know._ **

Bumblebee: Uh huh.

_ Windblade: You still haven't answered the question. _

**_Starscream: Maybe because it doesn't deserve an answer._ **

Bumblebee: He wants everyone to remember the last great thing he did not all the terrible scrap before that. If he comes back now then he has the opportunity to frag up his 'last noble sacrifice' by being an evil slagger for the next several million years.

**_Starscream: Have I told you lately that I hate you? No? I hate both of you._ **

_ Windblade: Seriously? You know the solution to that is to come back and not be a morally bankrupt pain in the aft right? _

Bumblebee: A tall order it seems. Personally I think he's afraid he can't, that he's somehow hardwired to frag up everything good he’s ever done.

**_Starscream: You know, I might just come back to the corporeal world so I can space bridge you into a smelter. That seems so tempting at the moment._ **

Bumblebee: See murder definitely counts in the "fraggin’ it all up" category. Maybe you're right, you shouldn't come back.

**_Strarscream: rhgrsjajrurjfjdjsk_ **

_ Windblade: Wow is that a direct transcription Bee? I'm kinda sad I didn't hear that noise out loud. _

**_Starscream: Hate. Unending loathing, for you both._ **

Bumblebee: Honestly his face is adorable right now, you're missing out.

_ Windblade: Number one reason to bring him back: that cute little crease in between his optics he gets when he's plotting how to murder you, overthrow the government, and have time for a new frame upgrade, all before sundown. _

**_Starscream: *indignant incoherent screeching*_ **

Bumblebee: Hah! He’s just upset we’re not complimenting him without caveats. The reason I wanted to ask you for help bringing him back is he refuses to let Skyfire work on it like he did for me, the stubborn stripped bolt. Do you happen to know any medics or quantum mechanics, preferably both?

_ Windblade: As a matter of fact I do. _

**_Starscream: Are you two rusted scraplet fraggers seriously going to bring me back to life without my damn consent?_ **

_ Windblade: Well no...okay maybe?  _ _ Look, do you really want to just watch all of us stare at forms on datapads and give boring moralizing speeches for all eternity. With Bumblebee being the only person you can talk to for, Primus knows how long, maybe several million years? _

**_Starscream: Tch. Nine levels of the pit no. I suppose if you must bring me back you should just get on with it. But I still do not want Skyfire anywhere near my spark. That is a hard line you do not cross and my final decision._ **

_ Windblade: Fine. I can work with that. _

Bumblebee: I can't believe I'm saying this but you don't have to right away. I know you have 10,000 other things to be dealing with right now. I can handle him one on one for a couple more months.

_ Windblade: Oh I definitely do. But once Starscream's back he can help out. I know he knows how to read and sign his name. I could really use a third set of hands right now. _

**_Starscream: Glitched. Both of you. Absolute slaggers._ **

Bumblebee: I kind of agree with him. We must be out of our processors because both of us have now offered Starscream a job in politics of all things. Primus save us all.

**_Starscream: Ughhhhhh._ **

_ Windblade: Let’s just hope we’re a good enough influence on him. And then try not to pay too much attention to the fact that he’s a bad influence on us. I'll go speak to Nautica and Velocity after you leave. We'll sort all of this out. _

Bumblebee smirked and then got up to leave. "He'll never say it but I will, thank you."

She smiled at him and then at the space behind him and winked one optic. "I'll see you both soon."

Windblade was probably imagining it but she could have sworn she heard Starscream groan. She felt like groaning as well. Starscream always gave her a tension headache one way or another but she was glad he wasn’t dead. That was a start she supposed.

She pinged her P.A. “I’m so sorry Shadow Striker but I need to go speak with Nautica and Velocity right away. I promise I’ll come back soon, I’m not going to leave you here with this tidal wave of work.”

Shadow Striker huffed good naturedly. “With all due respect La-er Windblade, there’s going to be just as much work now as when you return. It’s honestly never ending. Go and do what you need to get done, I’ll clear your schedule for the rest of the day. Maybe it would help to take some of the files back to your habsuite instead of coming back here. I’ve got it for now.”

Windblade smiled even though she knew she couldn’t see it. She hoped it came through in her voice. “I appreciate it, and I will take some of it with me. Thank you Shadow Striker.”

She got an affirmative ping and cheery wave from her as she left her office and made her way down to the lift at the end of the hallway. The _ Tellistrad _ had four levels. The lowest level bow contained the science labs and the stern held the engines. It was better if something was gonna blow up for it to do it on the edge of the ship instead of the middle. She pressed the button for level four and took the lift down. She comm’d Lotty to let her know she was coming to visit for non-medical reasons and sent the same message to Nautica.

When she didn’t get a response from either of them she made her way to the medbay. Windblade was glad she stopped in the doorway and knocked instead of walking right in because it gave Velocity the chance to guiltily spin away from Nautica who she had either been kissing or about to kiss.

She smiled at both their embarrassed faces knowingly. “I didn’t mean to interrupt but that certainly explains why neither one of you was answering your comms.”

Velocity got her composure back first as she responded. “I’m so sorry Windblade, what was it that you needed? I take it it’s not a medical emergency?”

Nautica smiled at Velocity and bit her lip before addressing Windblade as well. “It’s not a science emergency either right? I mean you wanted to see both of us, so maybe it’s something less official and more friendly?”

Windblade walked into the medbay and smiled at both of them warmly. She had missed Nautica and was happy that while they had been apart they had never stopped being friends. It had also been good to get to know Lotty through Nautica’s comms about the  _ Lost Light _ .

Now seeing them together she was happy for both of them, she’d have to remember to tell them that. “While it’s always great to see the two of you, and I would love to go out for drinks and dancing some time, this is something that requires both medical and scientific expertise. I’m not here in my official capacity as first delegate though.”

That seemed to pique both their interests because Lotty sat down on one of the rolling chairs at the medical desk and Nautica hopped up onto one of the medical berths and gestured for Windblade to sit next to her. Windblade sat and looked between the two of them seriously before continuing. “Alright first things first: what do either of you know, if anything, about Infraspace?”

Lotty scrunched up her face, trying to think, but Nautica looked at her with undisguised interest as she spoke. “Not much I’m afraid. I know it is a parallel dimension that intersects with this one. It’s not so much an alternate universe as it is an extra layer of reality over our own. Also it was rumored to be created by Micronus Prime for unknown reasons. The only person I’ve heard of having firsthand experience with it was Optimus Prime, but it’s not like anyone can ask him about it now.” She looked a little apologetic about that. Neither Velocity nor Nautica had ever met him, but they both knew Windblade had _ tried  _ to work with him in the past.

Velocity snapped her fingers as if she had just thought of something. “Bumblebee! I remember reading some of Wheeljack and Skyfire’s medical reports on how they brought Bumblebee and Optimus back from Infraspace. I can pull those up and comm them to you if you’d like me to.”

Both Nautica and Windblade nodded at the same time and waited for Lotty to send them the files. Windblade continued. “Okay so it seems like both of you each know some part of what I’m about to ask you about so that helps it not sound so far fetched. Back when Bumblebee died in the singularity it turned out his spark and consciousness was just shunted off into Infraspace. He was able to see and hear everything that was happening around him but the only person who could see and hear him was Starscream. Who was convinced he was hallucinating Bee as some sort of manifestation of a conscience he had suddenly grown. This went on for several years until Optimus entered Infraspace by accident and found Bumblebee and brought him out with him.”

Here was were things got weird, although Windblade suspected these Lost Light crew members had heard stranger things as she continued to explain. “Well, it seems Bee and Starscream’s sparks are linked in some way because Bumblebee told me this afternoon that Starscream is haunting him now just like Bee had done to him in the past. All three of us had a chat and they were wondering if I knew anyone who could bring Starscream back to our plane of existence.”

“I know, I know, he was my biggest political enemy and a notorious pain in literally everyone’s aft. Why would I want him back? The answer is complicated but the gist of it is that I could use his help and he deserves a second chance after that scrap he tried to pull martyring himself for the greater good. Annnnd not to be trapped as a ghost only Bee can see and hear for all eternity. Bumblebee doesn’t deserve that.”

Nautica snorted at that last part. Velocity looked concerned though. “I’d like to take some readings of Bumblebee’s spark to see if there are any anomalies that would explain why this is happening. Also to do a thorough diagnostic of his processor, it’s not that I don’t believe you! It’s mostly to rule out the possibility of mental illness so when we present this information to others we have evidence of its veracity.”

She made a valid point. Odder things had happened but the easier explanation, and the explanation Starscream had been laboring under all those years, was that he was glitched in the head. Having medical and scientific proof that he wasn’t was good. If Starscream wasn’t a paranoid wreck they might have been able to figure out Bee was real and bring him back sooner. Not that she would ever say that to either of them.

They had something important between them, trust, and she didn’t want to attack that. Solus only knew how Starscream could even bring himself to trust someone at all. It was probably because he thought Bumblebee was a part of him for all those years. Not that she thought Starscream trusted himself fully either.

Nautica appeared to be off on a thought tangent as she was counting things off on her fingers and mouthing words soundlessly. 

She jumped up suddenly and addressed both of them, spreading her arms wide. “Oh Brainstorm would love to consult on this! I think what we might be dealing with is chrono-resonance!!! I’ll need to run a few tests but if I’m right we can figure out a way to at least see Starscream hovering around Bee like the ghost of mistakes in leadership past! There might be some way to also suss out his consciousness but I don’t know any mechs who are mind readers do you?”

Soundwave’s red visor flashed through her processor and Windblade revved her turbines in surprise. “Uh, actually I might. Although he probably knows Starscream better than I do, I wonder why Bee didn’t approach him first. I’ll send Soundwave a ping, it’s a good thing we’re still near Sanctuary Station.”

Velocity chimed in at that. “Oh! If you want you can come with me the next time I visit. There’s an ex-Decepticon medic named Nickel who has set up shop over there, well her and the Scavengers. They seem...fun? They would have fit in on the  _ Lost Light  _ with the rest of us if we hadn’t been dismantled at the last moment.”

Both Lotty and Nautica had told her some of the many bizarre and horrifying adventures their ship had been on together but every story had been told with warmth and fondness. No matter how dire their straits all of them had become a sort of family.

Windblade knew it was special, but she was a little jealous. Since Chromia’s betrayal and exile she had been without close friends. Even if she had wanted to count Metroplex or Starscream in that category she wasn’t sure either of them would agree, so she was mostly alone. Plenty of acquaintances and colleagues but no amicas, unlike Lotty and Nautica.

She had heard Starscream quote human media more than enough that the phrase “it’s lonely at the top” came to mind. She watched as they shared a fond smile and sighed inwardly. Windblade didn’t have time to be lonely, there was still too much work to do.

When she spoke it was serious. “I’ll ask Bumblebee if he can free up his schedule for a bunch of tests, and you have my permission to consult Brainstorm on this problem if you like. I doubt Starscream would mind as his only stipulation was not telling or consulting Skyfire. As for Soundwave I’ll send him a comm asking to meet on the station the next time you’re going to visit Velocity. Thank you both for your assistance on this. I know if we all work together we can figure all this out. It might be immeasurably useful in future, not just for helping Starscream, if you have any reservations about that.”

They both looked at each other knowingly before Nautica addressed her trying not to smile. “Oh don’t worry we’re both Lost Lighters through and through. There’s nothing we love more than inexplicable phenomena that could be a grand unsolved mystery of the universe! Also you’re our friend and we trust you. If you think it’s the right thing to do then I agree. I never knew him though, so I’m trusting your judgement rather than what I’ve heard. Because what I’ve heard is he’s a self-absorbed, paranoid, homicidal, slagger.”

Windblade snorted fondly. “Oh what you’ve heard isn’t wrong. It’s just sometimes his singular drive to be worshipped and his razor sharp self-preservation instinct make for some surprisingly useful intelligence gathering, city resources planning, and necessary diplomatic bravado. He’s a mess but he’s a mess I understand and appreciate.”

Once again that knowing look passed between the two of them and Windblade was starting to realize why. She rolled her matrix blue optics. “Really you two? If you’re going to tease me about actually caring about Starscream then you might as well come out and say it.”

Velocity looked genuinely chagrined as she answered earnestly. “We’re not making fun of you, it just reminds us of some other mechs we know. The way you talk about Starscream is the same way Percy talks about Brainstorm. It’s good, really it is, that there are at least two people who care what happens to Starscream. We’ll help. I’ll get started on setting up the proper diagnostic protocols, have Bee make an appointment as soon as he’s ready.”

Nautica chimed in. “I’ll send Brainstorm a comm, he’s still sulking but I think this might perk him right up. Doubly so if I also call Perceptor in on this. We’ll send you a ping when we have all the preliminary readings analysed.”

Windblade nodded and then slyly smiled at them both. “Thank you, I truly appreciate your willingness to do all this. Especially when it seems like you’d both rather be occupying each other’s time in more entertaining ways.”

Nautica laughed awkwardly and Lotty turned slightly blue from the energon rushing to her gray cheeks before she reached out and took Nautica’s hand. The purple bot stared at their joined hands in awe for a second before squeezing back and looking absolutely besotted with the teal speedster.

Lotty cleared her intake. “It’s, we’re trying to take it slow, it’s all so new. Having an amica become something else can be a little bewildering, especially for us Camiens. As I’m sure you know.” She gazed at her empathically, full of sympathy, and Windblade knew who she meant.

She nodded tersely. She knew exactly what that was like, just not in the happy direction Lotty and Nautica’s bond had went in. Her thoughts abruptly skittered away from Chromia like ball bearings on glass. She focused on the two mechs in front of her instead. “I wish you both the best of luck and I’m happy you’re trying to figure it out. Congratulations!”

Now both of them blushed and waved their free hands at her bashfully. She laughed and nodded before moving to leave. They let her go without further fanfare and she made her way back to the elevator up to the second floor where all the habsuites were located.

She made sure to open and store the files Lotty had sent her about Bumblebee’s resurrection and download some more from her inbox to work through in her room instead of at her office. Including that unopened comm from Optimus Prime. Next she sent a short vague message to Soundwave asking to meet up with him soon to discuss something important but personal. He could probably figure out what she had meant by reading in between the lines of her text but she wasn’t about to write about Starscream in any official place anyone else could see yet. Windblade was not that naive anymore.

She ran into Knock Out and his conjunx Breakdown in the hallway back towards her room. They had their arms wrapped loosely around each other’s shoulders and waists and were talking animatedly about something to do with chromatic color-changing paint. They both greeted her warmly but after she returned their hellos they kept going and she was left in the quiet corridor. Windblade was about to open some more documents when she stopped abruptly in her tracks. Chromia was leaning up against the wall right outside the door to Windblade’s quarters.

When her blue optics searched her face nervously Chromia raised both her hands defensively in front of her chest and said. “Wait! Before you say anything I have to mention I have a bottle of vintage Operetta in my subspace and a couple glasses. If you don’t want to talk we can just drink, no strings attached.”

Windblade arched a brow ridge at that. Chromia knew the fizzy cerulean engex was her favorite and that Windblade hadn’t had any since they left Caminus together with Thunderclash. This was a peace offering, or an empty hand. Chromia wanted to show her she didn’t have an axe at her back anymore.

Windblade ex-vented in resignation. She wasn’t going to get any more work done tonight she supposed. She opened her door and gestured for Chromia to follow her inside. The room was spacious. It had a full wall view of the swirling golden rings of ice and dust outside as they floated around Saturn. On one side was Windblade’s large berth, shelves for her datapads, polish, holo-harp, techno-organic flowers, and other small possessions. Facing opposite it was a couch, low table, and three white chairs of different sizes and a door to her personal wash rack. She motioned for Chromia to take a seat in one of the chairs and she sat down heavily in the center of the couch.

Chromia sat across from her and opened her mouth to speak but Windblade beat her to it. “Nope. Drink first, then talk. Got it?”

She raised both brow ridges at that but pulled the Operetta out of her subspace along with two glasses and laid them out on the table. Chromia poured Windblade a full glass and about a fourth of a glass for herself. They both knew she hated Operetta, and pretty much all fizzy sweet engex drinks, this was solely a peace offering for Windblade. Which was...nice.

Chromia was trying very hard, which was important. She wanted to make things right, that was the first step to actually making things right. She picked up the full glass and took a big swig from it, savoring the warm sugary tang she hadn’t had in years. And would probably not have again. Caminus was gone and she didn’t know if the mechs who brewed the speciality engenx there still even lived. That was not what she should be thinking about right now. Instead she watched as Chromia took a small sip of the glowing blue liquid from her mostly empty glass.

Windblade lowered her glass to her lap and looked across at her. “Alright, go ahead. But please don’t apologize again. We’ll both be embarrassed by it, and like I said before, apology accepted.”

Chromia gave her a pleading, almost desperate look. “Okay then I’m going to be honest with you, if you’ve accepted my apology why are you still avoiding me? Don’t say you’re not, I know you, you really are.”

Windblade’s shoulders and wings drooped heavily. There were a couple reasons, Chromia deserved the truth, she could handle it. That didn’t make it any easier to tell her though. She took another drink of the engex and looked at her straight in her blue optics. “Just because I forgave you doesn’t mean I’m ready to go back to how things were between us.”

Windblade held up her hand to stop her from speaking and continued. ”In fact I don’t know if we can go back, we’re very different people than we were then. While I’m open to trying to rebuild our relationship it’s going to take time and I’m swamped right now. Also you still haven’t been officially pardoned, I’m working on it but I’m trying not to push it. The rest of the Council knows I’m not impartial when it comes to you, it might be best for me to abstain from voting on your pardon when it does come up in committee.”

Chromia ex-vented so hard something inside her vents rattled internally and it made both of them jump. She wasn’t looking at her when she spoke. “Believe me, I know I’m not the same person I was on Caminus. I had just hoped...well I guess it doesn’t matter now because here we are. I understand your political reasons, it’s the personal ones that are bothering me. I know it will be a lot of effort but do you seriously not want to try to be friends again?”

Windblade finished off the gently humming blue drink and put the glass down carefully on the table. She locked blue gazes with her. “We were amica Chromia. For millions of years. Of course I want to be your friend again! I love you and I always will but what lies broken between us, well it isn’t something that’s easy to heal. I care for you but I don’t trust you like I used to anymore. We can work on it...I’m just not ready to do that right now.”

Chromia nodded slowly, as if her head was suddenly ten times heavier. She broke optic contact. “Okay. That wasn’t what I was expecting but you’re right. I think I need to be the one putting in more effort here. Like I broke it so I’d best start mending it. How about we meet up once a week for drinks and card games or something?”

Windblade smiled at her fondly. Card games were a very Chromia hobby, it wasn’t something Windblade often sought out but both of them liked playing Wicked Grace together. “I’d like that. I’m not sure I’ll have the time to for a while now but send me an invite when you want to. I promise I’ll respond quickly this time. No more ignoring you.”

She huffed a laugh and then gestured at the mostly full bottle of Operetta. “You can keep that, I bought it for you anyway. We both know how much I like sweet fizzy engex. I’ll send you an invite now whether you want me to or not. I’m gonna find that one gap hour in your itinerary and then we’ll make it work.”

Windblade chuckled as well. She had missed her. Her spark ached to reach out to hers but they weren’t there yet. Maybe someday they could find each other and all would be made right in the merge again. For now it comforted her that they had both been missing each other. It made that empty spot in her spark slightly less tender. She stood up and grabbed the glowing blue bottle and put it in the cabinet that opened from one side of the bookcase. Chromia rose and stretched. Her shoulder and neck struts popped.

Windblade smiled at her across the room. “Goodnight. This was good, we needed to do this. Also thanks for the engex, it’s really making me nostalgic.”

Chromia walked towards the door as she spoke. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I figured it might though after all that’s happened. Guess we’ll never get a chance to go back now, not that the Mistress of Flame would have ever rescinded our permanent exile. Annndddd that’s enough of that kind of talk. It was nice to see you again like this, have a goodnight...and hey maybe recharge a little.” With that Chromia exited her habsuite.

Windblade knew that she should recharge, she didn’t need everyone around her reminding her she looked like slag warmed over all the time.

There was still a hauntingly long scroll of unanswered messages and forms to fill out in her inbox. It never ended sure but at one point it had been a lot shorter. Pit that had been before she was first delegate, back when she had to answer to Starscream. It had been years. Maybe she should just scrap it all and go to bed. But then who would do all this work? The answer was nobody, that’s why she couldn’t stop. Windblade flopped down on the berth and spread her wings out underneath herself to get more comfortable.

Then she once again stopped and stared at the message from Optimus. It needed to be opened, most likely before his funeral but that had come and gone. She was only making it worse for herself by not reading it yet. Bracing herself for the worst she clicked it open.

**To Whom It May Concern:**

 

**This is the Last Will and Testament of Optimus Prime of Iacon.**

**The decedent, Optimus Prime of Iacon, has named Windblade of Caminus as his lawfully appointed Executor. If she chooses to accept this role she must make sure the decedent's wishes are honored in regards to everything enumerated within the body of the will. Including, but not limited to, funerary preparations, method of burial, memoriam, and the preservation of the decedent’s memory and legacy. Optimus Prime of Iacon was mentally fit to make these decisions about his death and has had this document notarized and witnessed by two individuals. Attached are several documents detailing his wishes and also several personal letters he wants to be delivered to various parties after the event of his death. By signing the below document Windblade of Caminus will acknowledge her role as Executor and consent to all the duties entailed therein.**

 

**X____________________**

 

She debated for only a beat before ex-venting raggedly and signing it. He really hadn’t given her much choice, which was so very Optimus. She gasped when one of the locked documents opened immediately for her.

 

**Windblade,**

**I know we were often at odds politically, but as much as my actions suggested otherwise, I have always believed you to be capable and fair. Which is why I have made you the executor of my will. I thank you for accepting the responsibility and trust you will carry out my wishes to the very best of your ability. I assume since you are reading this I have passed on and hopefully become one with the Allspark. Though who really knows for sure if that is where I or any of us shall end up. Regardless, I troublingly find myself having difficulty making peace with my past actions and choices. But there is one thing I regret most. Being unable to move on.**

**It caused me to blunder into more things than I care to admit. As my final act as the former leader of the Autobots and as a Prime I wish for everyone to be pardoned. All war criminals, all petty criminals, even mechs like Starscream and Megatron. This world we find ourselves in deserves a new start. Let those who want to make amends try to, let those who don’t want to go off to live and die in peace. I think you will understand the spirit of what I am trying to do here as I know you have tried to steer our people in this very direction. One of healing, of mutual cooperation, of true peace. I was not present for Megatron’s second trial but I heard you and Ultra Magnus lobbied valiantly for him to be allowed to dedicate the rest of his life to service instead of imprisonment or death. I will leave it up to you on how to go about this pardoning and release. I trust you will make a good case before the Council of Worlds for why we should do this.**

**It will not be a popular thing, there are those who will view it as naive or foolhardy but I know you understand. As an immigrant, a friend quite literally to the city of Iacon, and the rightfully elected leader of Cybertron. You’ve seen first hand exactly what it looks like when someone can’t move on, can’t adapt to this new world we live in, insists upon dwelling on self-destructive behavior that protected him in the past. And yet you were still able to show Starscream kindness, mercy even, and to be his friend. That is how I know you will understand why I am asking for this. Not just for all of them but specifically for Megatron.**

**Our relationship was never what you’d call healthy or advisable, but there was a time when ‘love’ wouldn’t have been out of place on either of our lips while speaking of each other. Of course several million years of civil war did put an end to any dreams of mutual happiness we might have once held, though neither of us stopped loving each other. That much I do know. Which is why if he has survived me then I need you to make it right for him, in a way I never could while I still lived. Make it right for all Cybertronians regardless of faction or colony. I know this is a heavy burden, a monumental task, but I also know you can succeed. That is why I have asked this of you. Attached are several more letters, addressed to specific people that I need you to deliver if any have survived me. I trust and believe in you Windblade.**

**I am forever in your debt,**

**Optimus Prime**

Windblade scanned the letters, there were quite a few of them but two names jumped out at her from the addresses; Megatron and Soundwave. With a deep sinking feeling in her tanks she knew this was going to change everything.

Leave it to Optimus to only ever give her tasks she couldn’t morally say no to. First Metroplex, then Micronus’s Universe, now this. She knew this was the right thing to do, even though it was possibly the most disastrous thing she could do.

No one was moving on as long as everyone kept sticking their fingers in still open wounds. Windblade could feel the processor ache coming on already. It was time to start organizing, and sending out letters. More work, and this was the kind she couldn’t get Shadow Striker to do. She grabbed the Operetta engex out of the cabinet and chugged it straight out of the bottle.

There wouldn’t be any recharge for her tonight thanks to Optimus slagging Prime. She was starting to sound like Starscream. Ugh.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I love Windblade and there is not nearly enough fic with her in it! Also I will trine everyone, you cannot stop me, I will trine two jets and a car. It's gonna happen damnit!!! 
> 
> Also the world building in this chapter is leading up to the premise of my Big Bang so although you don't have to read this fic first it is a good place to start!


	3. The Cityspeaker

Windblade was impressed with Minimus Ambus. She had admired him in his position as defense council for Megatron during both his trials. He had also been The Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord which was something she had studied avidly when she first came to Cybertron. There would be some things she would never understand about the war but the history of both side’s actions wasn’t one of them. It would have been dangerous, foolish, and wreckless not to know this world’s history. Especially as an elected official. She had seen exactly where that led the Cybertronian Senate long ago. 

Windblade did know the history now, at least all the major beats, and Ultra Magnus had featured prominently in the Autobot side of the war. It had been harder to find Decepticon records and accounts but she had located an archivist on the Cybertronian intranet called Ether. They had managed to give her a rather complete and all too credible account, so much so that it wasn’t a leap to suspect they had been a high ranking Decepticon. Not that it mattered to her, she had taken the Autobrand without fully understanding its meaning and now she regretted it. Better to be unaligned nowadays. If not out of cautious self-preservation than out of respect for the losses on both sides. Losses she had never had to carry in her spark. 

Windblade had some losses of her own to deal with now, though she hadn’t had the time to devote the correct amount of respect to them. To grieve. Primus, she hadn’t even lit a flame for any of them. Things had changed. She had changed. But there were those around her that wanted to do the right thing as well and that made it all a lighter burden to bear. 

Minimus Ambus he was going above and beyond to help move along the process of freeing literally everyone. She was quite sure some found it ironic that someone who had imprisoned so many people in his life was now fighting to abolish prisons. Windblade had had a couple ideas of what to do with most of the people who were still locked up, like Onslaught and Blastoff, but had been stumped on how to handle Megatron specifically. 

He was a person just like everyone else, unfortunately he was also a larger than life symbol of death and destruction. The Galactic Council wanted to make an example of him, hold him in jail forever to act as a warning to anyone who would dare to commit genocide on an intergalactic scale. The immensity of his crimes couldn’t really be grasped, even if he lived another 4 million years there was likely no way he could ever truly make it right. That was simply the nature of what he had done. The thing was, he wanted to try and make it right. He wanted to make reparations, unlike some mechs. Because when it came down to the war he wasn’t the only one to blame. How simple and almost poetic everything would have seemed if Optimus and Megatron had gone into the void together. 

If she had been into betting she would have laid odds on both of them hoping the other would go with him as well. Either killing each other outright or in mutual sacrifice. Sweet Solus Prime Cybertronians were so deeply fragged up. The better she got to know them the deeper the trauma seemed to run. Four million years of war would do that to a bot, she shivered, it was something she never hoped to know first hand. 

And yet here was Minimus, trying so hard to help a friend do the right thing. He was one of the first goodsparked people she’d talked to in a while. She didn’t regret sending him the notification about helping with what Optimus’s will had demanded of her. He immediately asked to be appointed New Luna One’s delegate to the New Council of Worlds so he could help in an official capacity instead of just as a consultant. She had been impressed with his dedication and his initiative. Everyone else had been complaining and throwing roadblocks up in her way. Sometimes literal ones, as Elita 1 had personally camped out in the lobby to her office for two whole days. Trying to intimidate her in to disregarding Optimus’s final wishes. Well, it was probably more of her attempt a persuasion vs. intimidation as she hadn’t used her hammer...yet. 

Windblade had to squeeze past her uncomfortably every time she wanted to enter or leave her office. It had been..awkward. Eventually Obsidian and Strika had both come to retrieve her and all three of them talked to Windblade rather candidly about why setting Megatron free would end badly. Wasn’t Liege a good enough example? All the Carcerians knew intimately what holding someone in an infinite prison was like. She suspected it was Obsidian’s doing as he knew her best, and it did make her pause.

She had been fielding all sorts of video and audio calls, as well as hundreds of new comms from literally everyone. Folks she had never met before; Cybertronians, colonists, Earthlings, Elonians, and even one Dire Wraith. 

At the end of the first week after opening Optimus’s will Bumblebee found her sitting on the observation deck staring out the large domed window at Saturn’s rings listlessly while she answered internal comms. He took one look at her and immediately grabbed her by the elbow, pulling her along with him as he power walked her back to her habsuite. Bumblebee made her enter the code and then steered her over to her berth before unceremoniously pushing her to sit down on it. When she landed with a thud was when she truly noticed his presence. She had been gone, so far gone, and in a bad way. 

He looked sternly down at her with obvious concern. “Turn off your comms for twelve hours and recharge. Don’t argue you don’t need it. I know what sleep deprivation looks like. Have you gotten any for the last ten days? Even an hour here or there? I know I don’t need to tell you this but you absolutely do not want to live like Starscream did while he was in charge. As handsome as he is it wasn’t pretty.”

She knew he was probably hovering somewhere behind Bee and could hear everything they were saying so she just sighed. “I’m trying okay. I know I need to rest but it’s like, it’s like there’s no one else who cares about all of this working out as much as I do. If I don’t do this whole decarceration program correctly then it’s just going to be used as another tool of abuse. I know it’s hard for everyone to believe, but I truly think that this is the right thing to do.”

Bumblebee’s optic twitched and his shoulders hunch slightly. Starscream must have been getting in quite a few choice words. She mumbled goofily. “What’s he saying? I’m sure it’s words of ringing support.”

Bumblebee snickered and then rolled his optics to his left. “You need to recharge right now, not listen to Starscream hurl oaths and verbal abuse at you. Turn off your comms and set your chronometer’s alarm for exactly 12 hours. I’ll come by and see you again, then we can work on all of this together. Yes all _three_ of us. Till then, if it helps, I can read over the most urgent messages you’ve got. I promise I won’t respond or make any actions on them until you’re awake.”

She sagged forward and her head hit his broad yellow chest with a light klink. “Thank you. Seriously, thank you so much. If there’s...if you need anything..I...ah can do.”

He had started to rub her shoulders and back soothingly at the end of her sentence and her optics were flickering on and off. She was almost in recharge already. He must of noticed because he stopped and gently took her by the shoulders and lowered her to lay back on the berth. She shifted her feet almost all the way onto the recharge slab and immediately offlined her optics. The last thing she heard was Bee mumbling to Starscream. Something about caring enough to look after both of them if he had to. 

Her optics snapped online exactly 12 hours later. She didn’t turn on her comms and instead trudged into the washracks in her room and turned the solvent on as hot as it would go. It felt incredible pounding away at her sore joints and seams. Windblade wanted to stay there all day but she knew she couldn’t. Instead she started to use the suds to scrub down her body and wings, gently wiping away weeks of stained coolant that had pooled in all her plating. She finally stopped at her face. She used a special astringent solvent to remove her face paint, then turned off the stream. Someone pinged the door to her habsuite and she buzzed them in from the bathroom. She assumed it was Bumblebee accompanied by a ghostly Starscream. 

She pulled her flexible mesh brush and small pot of lacquer from her subspace. It was the same small red pot she had brought with her from Caminus when she left on the _Vis Vitalis_. Windblade felt a pang of loss at that. This would be one of the last batches of paint that the cityspeakers would have ever made in the Temple of Flame on Caminus. Precious and yet still just as utilitarian as ever. She hesitated applying the usual marks beneath her eyes. Was she still a cityspeaker when there were no more cities left to speak for? 

No that wasn’t quite right, almost all the Titans were dead but the people they had protected still lived and she would fight to advocate for them. She was still a cityspeaker. She made a thin vertical red line from under both her eyes, over her cheeks, down to end at her neck. Then she lined her eyes in a thick ring of red, painting her lips full again with a single red line below her lower lip all the way to her chin. Metroplex’s markings mixed with Trypticon’s. It wouldn’t mean anything to most bots here but some from Caminus would recognize what she had just done. Windblade used a cloth to rub in the sealing wax over her new face paint. She was still first delegate of Cybertron and still a cityspeaker. None of that had changed. 

She visibly jumped when Bumblebee called out to her from the other room. “I hope you’re not doing anything in there you wouldn’t want Starscream to see because he’s been watching you since we arrived.”

She rolled her optics, of course he had. 

What had he seen? He had watched her hesitate at the mirror before doing her makeup differently, he probably wouldn’t understand. Then a realization dawned on her like a thunderbolt through a clear blue sky. Maybe he would understand, what with how often he changed his frame, trying to find something that felt real. It was something she wanted to ask him, maybe not through Bee as a middlemech though. She didn’t think Starscream would give her a genuine answer if he had to be vulnerable in front of both of them. Not yet anyway. That was another thing she had been pointedly not thinking about, what exactly her relationship was with the two of them.

She scanned the washrack and shrugged before walking back into the main room of her habsuite to see Bee sitting in one of the smaller white chairs. He had two cubes of bright pink energon in front of him on the table. Windblade pulled a tablet out of her subspace and set it down next to the cubes before sitting in the bigger white chair next to him. 

Windblade had a feeling Starscream was hovering behind both of them so she tipped her head back and addressed him. “You know being a ghost doesn’t mean you don’t have to respect people’s privacy right? Who else have you been spying on?”

Bee turned on the internal comm channel the three of them shared when they were together now.

**_Starscream: Would it flatter you to know you’re the only one besides Bumblebee worth keeping an optic on here on this wretched junker? Or would you even believe such a pretty lie when you know damn well you’ve kicked the cyber hornet’s nest and all the beasts are out for your blood. What in the slag headed, self-righteous, Optimus level, glitched scrap are you trying to pull? Hm? Do you want a bunch of the galaxy’s worst war criminals to offline us all? Onslaught is one thing...but Megatron!!!! Are you out of your fragging mind?!!!_ **

She suspected it had become an old argument between the two of them by now, if only because Starscream probably couldn’t shut up about it. It wasn’t that he was precisely wrong though, so she wasn’t surprised with what Bee said next.

Bumblebee: I try not to agree with Starscream on anything, political or otherwise, but he has a point. We can’t just let Megatron wander the multiverse unsupervised, who knows what he’ll get up to and least on the _Lost Light_ -

**_Starscream: I know exactly what he’ll get up to. What he does best. Destroy and enslave. Consolidate his power until there is nothing left to hoard. Ruin even the miniscule progress we’ve made after being shattered utterly by four million years of useless war. All so that he can remain in power at the expense of everyone else’s lives and livelihoods._ **

**_That’s what Megatron does, he seeks power and absolute control. It is the only thing he’s ever been good at and he knows it. Knows that he’s too good at it, that eventually there will be nothing left for him to possess and his life will be revealed to be ultimately meaningless. That is why he delayed his trial, that is why he didn’t have the decency to just let us execute him. He doesn’t want to accept that the only thing he’s good for is interstellar genocide. He knows he even eventually failed at that as well! And you want to what? Let him try again?!_ **

_Windblade: I know this might be a thoroughly alien concept to Cybertronians, to you specifically Starscream, but people can change. They can grow and alter their paths in life, it is possible to seek that change out, to try and make right past wrongs. You’re right, he’ll always be the Megatron you knew, the one who killed millions, maybe billions, of beings. But he’s also the Megatron that is asking to make reparations. To try and make some sort of good after so much evil. He knows there’s not atonement waiting for him in the end just the rest of his life being of service towards good because it’s the only justice he can do. Sure it’s small, not nearly enough, but then again nothing will ever bring everyone back from the dead or heal all those scars. It’s too late, it’s already happened._

_Now all we can do is try to move forward, to heal with each other as we go. And yes before you point out I wasn’t in the war I do know what loss feels like. I felt Metroplex’s spark extinguish like that of a sparkbonded amica. We merged so often, we were one in so many regards, I know I will never be the same again. Even though I was exiled I felt Caminus die as well, fainter but still painful if for the fact I never got to say goodbye. I may have hated her but I never got to say goodbye to the Mistress of Flame either and...I know I didn’t know him as well or for as long as you both did but I mourn Wheeljack too. I also know that’s not comparable to the war, in sheer scale, but who truly can comprehend it. Maybe Megatron is the only one left who can. That’s why I want to give him another chance. Because it is what we all need to finally have some closure._

Neither one of them responded in the internal chat and she glanced over at Bumblebee. His face was furrowed in concentration and something else she couldn’t read. He turned to address her aloud. “Look you don’t need to hear the specifics of what he’s saying because it’s needlessly cruel but it boils down to you not knowing Megatron like he does. He’s worried this is all a trap, a trick, and that he’s going to end up slagging us all. I’m not gonna lie and say his fears are unfounded but you and I are in agreement on most of it. Everyone deserves a second chance. Even Megatron...even Starscream.”

She reached out to take his hand without thinking. He looked down at it in surprise for a second before his optics softened and he held her hand back. Neither of them spoke for several minutes before finally she squeezed his hand once and then removed hers to grab one of the glasses of energon off the table. She took a drink as Starscream responded in their internal chat again.

**_Starscream: If you two are finished being disgustingly short-sighted and sentimental we’ve got work to do. Quite a lot of it if Windblade’s poorly managed backlog is any indication._ **

She and Bee shared a commiserating look as she murmured at him. “Seriously, I meant what I said before you helped me get some time to recharge. If there’s anything I can do for you, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to ask me for it.”

He smiled at her and then snorted. “Oh you do not want to hear what he just said to that. It was absolutely filthy and involved violating several different inter-colony treatises.” 

Windblade chuckled and then responded in chat.

 _Windblade: Sounds pretty predictable at this point. Come on Starscream. Come up with a more creative, mostly legal, favor to ask and I might just grant it. Although the favor was offered to Bee not you._  

**_Starscream: Only ‘mostly legal’? My, it seems like you may have some potential yet. All that aside, any favor you offer him will indirectly or directly benefit me as long as we’re tethered together so do keep that in mind going forward._ **

She didn’t need to see his face to know that his expression was insufferably smug right now. Windblade sighed and changed the subject back to work. They did have a mountain of it left to do.

_Windblade: I’ll get started on the messages from Obsidian, Knockout, and Pyra Magna if you two handle the Devisun and Sanctuary Station ones. You both have more experience with Soundwave and Cosmos than I do. It looks like we’ve got a Council meeting to present plan of action and motions on the decarceration movement in two days time. I’m expecting some resistance from the Cybertronian Justice Department and Elita as well as some support from Minimus Ambus. He’s already submitted a preliminary report on how we can handle Megatron’s structured release. I’ll send it to Bee’s comms._

**_Starscream: Oh...of course he has. Megatron has always had a way with large, self righteous, former lawmen, with blue and red color schemes._ **

Both Windblade and Bee coughed politely to hide their laughter. She was sure Starscream was making the most self-satisfied face he could right now. Apparently during the war it wasn’t a very well kept secret on either side that Optimus and Megatron had...at one time or another, had a more than professional relationship. She didn’t need all the details, she had gotten more than enough of an opticful in Optimus’s will, but she wasn’t about to tell Starscream that. 

Windblade didn’t need to of course, it seemed he already knew far more than she did about the matter. More than she probably ever wanted to know actually. She tactfully changed the subject again.

 _Windblade: We need to be ready to manage expectations during the meeting. I’m sure we can expect to be running damage control, especially when it comes to the delegation from Carcer. Elita 1 has already made it clear where they stand and Obsidian and Strika are backing her. The three of them united in purpose is not a force to be taken lightly._    

**_Starscream: Oh please. They’re always united in purpose, they simply put on the pretense of being separate entities vying for power and influence in order to manipulate outside parties. They’re a well oiled trine. If you hadn’t realized that yet you’re painfully lagging behind the class Windblade._ **

That...made too much sense. Slag. 

Why hadn’t she noticed that yet? Because they hadn’t wanted her to. Sometimes Starscream’s barbed paranoia could come in handy. It made him hyper perceptive. He wasn’t the best at analyzing all his observations, especially when it came to observing people with morals, but he knew what he was talking about in this case. Obsidian, Elita 1, and Strika were all working together as a singular entity and they had been trying to steer her with whichever one of them worked best on her in a given situation. And it had been working. Damn it.

Those three had something else though, she’d heard the term trine before. Did it simply mean three people in charge working together for a bigger purpose? They hadn’t had the word on Caminus or the concept of it really. Well, if Starscream wanted to play teacher she could stand to learn some more about him and Cybertronian culture. 

 _Windblade: You could have pointed that out sooner you know. What is a trine? Is it a military, social, or familial unit? I’ve heard it used in several different ways and I haven’t been able to determine from context clues what it means._ ****

Bumblebee frowned as he transcribed what Starscream was telling him.

**_Starscream: It’s all of those things and more. I wouldn’t expect you to know or understand it really. Most Cybertronians that aren’t from the first cities don’t understand it either. I was cold constructed in Vos so it was a heavy part of my upbringing. The concept has a history that’s quite ancient though. Three bots absolutely united in purpose, working towards a common goal or goals: political, financial, martial, romantic, or all of the above. Their actions are solely to strengthen their collective position, it’s an alliance and an allegiance. Each member is unique and powerful in their own right but it’s their work together as one unit that truly brings out the best in them._ **

**_It can be an amica or conjunx type relationship but it doesn’t have to be. Not to say it isn’t intimate, no it is definitely that, in order to best serve the interests of the trine you have to open yourself up to the scrutiny of the others. Any weakness you hold is their weakness. Any fear is their fear. In a well functioning trine this is acknowledged and accepted. All that you are, good or bad, weak or strong, is accepted and assimilated into the thinking of the whole. When a trine is working well together they are practically unstoppable. There was a reason the Autobots called Thundercracker, Skywarp and I the Elite Trine. For a time we were the main force behind Decepticon interplanetary expansion. Seekers skilled at finding defense weaknesses, resources, tactical advantages, unstable terrain, defectors, and spies. Like a finely sharpened blade we cut in between the thinnest armor lines of the Autobot front. And then we stopped. Stopped working well together, stopped trying to, stopped being a trine. Fortunately for the Autobots._ **

Bee’s expression was pained. She briefly wondered if the two of them had ever talked about what had happened between him, Skywarp, and Thundercracker. Windblade had only met Thundercracker in passing but he seemed...surprisingly sweet. She had never met Skywarp but as far she knew he was still alive. What Starscream was describing was something profound. The kind of relationship most bots searched their entire lives for. 

What must it have been like to lose something like that? Windblade was just given a glimpse at another shattered part of Starscream’s psyche and she didn’t know what to do with it yet. How did you comfort someone over the loss of something like that when you’d never experienced it yourself? There was a reason they had broken apart, she suspected she might even know vaguely what it was based on Starscream’s other trauma. But was she allowed to ask? Was it even her place to offer her sympathy? She wanted to know more about the nature of the bonding between trine-mates but also didn’t want to hurt him. Windblade ex-vented in a quick hiss and answered in the internal chat. 

_Windblade: You’re right, I had no idea what it meant. I don’t think I still do as I’ve never experienced something like that. It sounds incredible. And formidable. So it’s your opinion that the Carcerian delegation is a trine and that’s why they’re so dangerous and hard to negotiate with, because although they seem like separate entities they’re really all working for the goal they set together?_

**_Starscream: Precisely. Back when I was Supreme Ruler there were ways I could see them working together and combat it. But even someone as clever and powerful as myself had difficulty outmaneuvering a united trine. They might not stop you from releasing the dregs of society from Garrus-10 but you can bet they will make you pay for realeasing Megatron. Dearly._ **

She didn’t doubt it. But now that she knew that was what they were up to she could try and stymy some of their efforts. And she wasn’t alone, she had Bumblebee in her corner, and even Starscream it seemed. 

Her optics widened in revelation and she spoke aloud before she could think better of it. “One mech would have difficulty fighting three bots in any situation, let alone three that moved and thought in perfect unity. Maybe the only solution to out-maneuver their trine is to form one of our own. What if you, me, and Bee made one? You said it didn’t have to be an amica type relationship even, and hey we’re kinda already collaborating and working as team as is so-”

Bee’s blue optics burned huge and round in shock. Starscream burst into the internal comms.

**_Starscream: No! No. You have no idea what you’re proposing! You can’t even grasp what you’ve just asked because of how much you don’t know! Don’t try and suggest something you don’t understand as a solution to a problem you’re just now realizing you have. We’re done talking about this, in fact don’t you dare ever offer that again. Do you understand me!? If you don’t drop it now I’ll leave after harassing Bee until he leaves too!_ **

She wanted to push him on it. It wasn’t a bad idea even if she didn’t understand the full scope of it. Windblade had a feeling they were already part-way to being a trine anyway, at least as he had described it. He was scared though, and Starscream afraid was very dangerous, to himself and others. He wouldn’t be coerced into doing anything like what she was proposing. Not that she wanted to do that, from what he had described it was a relationship built on total trust and acceptance. Things she had a hard time believing Starscream could ever give to another person, let alone two. And yet he had before. 

But that had ended in disaster which was probably why he was so terrified of doing it again. Windblade felt it in her spark. That all three of them would be stronger together if they decided to do this. But of course all parties had to be in total agreement otherwise it would never work. As much as she wanted to, it was hard to imagine all three of them agreeing, even about this. So she let it go for the moment. Maybe she could bring it up later once Starscream got his body back. He’d feel less cornered if he knew he could physically threaten her if need be. Lovely. 

Windblade ex-vented heavily and looked over Bee’s shoulder where she suspected he was pacing back and forth. “Okay. You’re right I don’t know enough about it to have asked for it. I’m sorry if I upset you. While I would love to know more about it I realize now probably isn’t the best time to ask. Why don’t we all get to work on those comms? I’ll let Shadow Striker know I’m working from my hab today.”

She knew Starscream must have said something because Bee sighed but he didn’t translate it into the comms so she suspected it was something asinine about him not being upset. After that they all got to work sifting through the various messages and document attachments in her inbox. It was nice. Quietly working in her habsuite with both of them there. 

Windblade felt relatively well rested, she had refueled properly, and showered. Honestly it was the best she’d felt in weeks. Since before Unicron actually. To her chagrin Bumblebee’s intervention had her working more productively as well. Who would have thought that taking care of yourself led to higher caliber of work, hah. She was about to thank Bee for his help again when she saw him get up and fill two more cubes of energon, one for her and one for himself. 

After setting one in front of her he sat back down in the chair he fit the best in. “You know when I first got back from Infraspace I had trouble remembering to eat and sleep as I hadn’t needed to do either for seven whole years. It was a bit of a rude wake up call almost offlining myself accidentally from neglect. I had to set internal alarms, sometimes several external ones too, just to remind myself I had a body I needed to take care of. It might help you to do the same thing, at least for a little while.”

She appreciated the sentiment, as she knew it was coming from a concerned place, but she couldn’t help smiling ruefully back at him. “You don’t have to tell me twice, and I will listen, unlike Starscream. I know I have been running myself ragged and I will be more mindful of it from now on. You know as well as I do, though that I can’t put any of this off. It’s too vital.”

Bee slumped and eyed her out of the corner of his optics. “Everything is always vital when you’re running a diasporic community, believe me I know. The important thing is to know when and how to delegate. Even Starscream didn’t try to do everything himself.”

Starscream commented in the internal comms.

 **_Starscream: As much good as it did me to delegate to Rattrap, of all people, it did help take some of the stress off. Until he inevitably betrayed me of course. I also had you to order around as well. Perhaps you need to hire a few more subordinates._ ** 

It was a very Starscream-y way of expressing concern but she read it for what it was. He was worried about her too. She tried to smile at the air over Bee’s left shoulder where she thought he might be standing.

_Windblade: I’ll take it into consideration. Honestly both you and Bee helping me out today has made things so much easier. I know you can’t always work with me like this but I do appreciate it. Thank you._

**_Starscream: How in the slag does she keep figuring out where I am? You definitely can’t see me. She can’t see me right?_ **

Bee laughed and she joined him. Windblade knew Starscream’s face must be incredulous and it made her laugh harder. 

 _Windblade: I can’t see you or hear you I just_ **_know_ ** _you well is all._

**_Starscream: Hmph. That doesn’t mean anything, you’re just trying to show off...somehow._ **

She rolled her optics and huffed another laugh. He was probably going to start moving around erratically just so she wouldn’t know where he was anymore. She was about to say so when Bee beat her to it.

Bumblebee: He’s kinda floating around in weird circles now, I think you might have officially broken him. 

 _Windblade: That’s such a shame as he was just starting to be a halfway decent mech. Now what are we gonna do with him?_   

**_Starscream: I am right fragging here you know! Hello yes, I might be invisible but I still have my dignity. Well as much dignity as I had before dying at any rate._ **

They both snickered at him again before Bee changed the subject out loud. “You know I went and saw Velocity and Nautica and they ran every test they could think of, and like three more Brainstorm thought of over comms, and gave me a clean bill of health. And also talked at me for several hours about a bunch of quantum science I will never understand. I like them, they seem like good bots.”

Windblade beamed at him. “That’s great news! Did they say if Brainstorm or Perceptor are going to join them here in the labs? I feel like I should probably go visit them if they do. I’m also sure that if all four of them are working on getting Starscream back into shape, literally, it’ll happen in a matter of days instead of months. Have you heard half the stories of what they got up to on the _Lost Light_?”

Bumblebee shook his head but he was smiling. “Oh they told me a few while I was down there and it’s a literal miracle all of them are alive. Like I’m pretty sure Tailgate, Rewind, and Cyclonus all died more than once and yet they’re all still out there kicking around. To be fair I’ve died and I’m still here too, so I guess that is less impressive than I originally thought it might be. But hey, there was that whole thing with the time traveling briefcase Megatron assassination caper so I still stand by my original sentiment. Which is that it’s astonishing they’re all still functioning.”

**_Starscream: The Megatron what now?!_ **

Both of them then launched into explaining everything to him, taking turns repeating what they had heard from Nautica and Rodimus respectively. It took about an hour and by the end of it both of them were in high spirits about how incredulous Starscream was about the whole affair. Her spark hadn’t felt this light and bouncy in ages. It was nice. They had done a full days work and she knew she should probably be responsible and recharge again, at least for a few hours, but she didn’t want this to end. So Windblade made a decision.

She stood and arched her hands over her head, popping her back struts and shaking out her wings before addressing Bee. “I’ve really appreciated your help today, both of you, but I’m going to take your advice and actually recharge tonight. Though if you want to you’re welcome to stay, either on the couch or on the berth with me, there’s plenty of room.”

Bee looked at her with stunned blue optics. Starscream must have been saying something because he waved his hand back in the air at him distractedly, not looking away from Windblade. 

As the seconds dragged out between them without an answer she started to feel slightly nervous. Had she misread their dynamic? She didn’t want to make Bee uncomfortable. He had done so much for her already and she wanted to be a good friend to him too. On Caminus physical affection was much more common amongst everyone, not just friends and lovers. She understood why it wasn’t so on Cybertron, a hand on your shoulder could just as easily tear your arm off as pat it reassuringly. Four million years of war made physical contact of any sort fraught. But still it had been a bit of a culture shock. She missed hugging friends in greeting and holding hands while walking places. She missed sleeping in the same berth as Chromia curled around each other happily. It didn’t have to mean anything other than friendship if everyone involved wanted it to be that. Had she misjudged how much intimacy to offer him?

Eventually Bee responded after it looked like he had to reboot his processor. “Sure. If you don’t mind Starscream watching you recharge, then sure. I must admit it’s been a while since I shared a berth with anyone, I might kick you in my sleep.”

Windblade’s smile bloomed wide and made her whole face light up. “I think I can handle Starscream hovering and some kicking from you.” With that she motioned for him to follow her. 

She got onto the berth first and arranged herself on her side, her wings flicked back towards the cabinet wall. He walked over carefully and gingerly got into the berth on his side facing her. When he laid his head down their optics met and she smiled reassuringly, she hoped. He smiled back and scooted in a little bit closer, so she did as well. Now they were both close enough to touch and she reached out and laid a hand down on his shoulder. He optics followed the movement briefly before they flicked back to her face and then he reached out and laid his hand on her side, below her arm on his shoulder. She moved in closer and leaned forward to press her forehead against his wide yellow chest and offlined her optics. 

She felt him tense and was about to move back when he relaxed and then started to stroke his hand down her side, lightly in small circles. She let her turbines purr in contentment and that startled a small laugh out of him. He pulled her in closer to him so they were cuddling front to front. 

He was solid and warm and she was halfway into recharge when he murmured over the top of her head. “You know, he’s super jealous right now.”

She chuckled and let her engine rumble in satisfaction. “I bet he is. Two beautiful bots snuggling up right in front of him and he can’t join in. Not that I think he would, Starscream’s never struck me as the cuddling type.”

Windblade felt Bee’s rumbling laugh under her forehead and it reverberated through her chest as well. “You’d be surprised. He’s more tactile than he’d ever let on in public. No Star, I’m not going to tell her _all_ your secrets, _relax_.”

She smiled even though she knew neither of them could see it and offlined her optics again. “He doesn’t need to tell me anyway. I’ll figure them all out eventually, just you wait and see.”

Bee shook his head above her and he suddenly sounded just as sleepy as she did. “He’ll never admit it but I think he’s looking forward to you trying.”

She mumbled something affirmative before dropping fully into recharge. It was just too warm and comfortable to resist. 

When she awoke her chronometer told her it had been about six hours. She onlined her optics and looked up to see Bee looking down at her fondly. She mumbled apologetically “Hey I’m not keeping you from anything important am I? You could have left earlier if you needed to, it’s fine.”

He shook his head. “Nope. In fact I just woke up a few minutes before you did. And besides I didn’t want to leave. I know how it feels to wake up to an empty berth when you’d rather be waking up next to someone.”

Now it was her turn to smile fondly and she pulled him into a hug. “Thank you. Truly I appreciate it. Any time you want to do this again let me know. I enjoy your company and even his sometimes.”

Bee huffed a laugh and both of them disentangled themselves from each other on the berth. As much as she wanted to stay like that they both had work to do. There was too much still to plan before the New Council Convened on the “Megatron Issue.” Yet she felt rejuvenated now, ready to take on all of that and more. 

So instead of heading straight for her office after leaving her habsuite and parting ways with Bee and Starscream she comm’d Shadow Striker and told her to move her schedule around to allow Windblade to go with Lotty to Sanctuary Station this morning. Everyone had agreed to run on Earth time and it seemed to be working thus far even though they were in space where there was no day or night cycles. 

Shadow Striker was already on top of messaging both Velocity and Soundwave to let them know what Windblade’s plans were and when to meet up. She was going to have to give her a raise. 

On her way to the shuttle to meet Lotty she wondered if she should send Thundercracker a comm. If anyone she knew would be able to explain trines better to her, specifically trines when it came to Starscream, it would be him. Strangely it seemed almost as important to her now as everything she was doing with the delegates related to decareration. Starscream was no longer a matter of state but he was still causing her problems. To be fair this time it was 100% a problem she had elected to have, most of them were now that she thought of it. That was just who she was. 

Windblade waved brightly at Lotty who lit up when she saw her face. “Oh! You look so much better now, not that you looked bad before, but your optics! You’ve had proper recharge and I love the new design, very stately, blending the old with the new.”

Of course Velocity had noticed what her new markings meant and it made her smile. Sometimes it was nice to be seen _and_ recognized. 

She boarded the shuttle with her easily as she spoke. “I spoke with Bee yesterday about you giving him a clean bill of health, have you and Nautica made any progress on the ghost issue yet? Are Perceptor and Brainstorm coming, and if so should I have Sky Bite come over and install some new internal blast shielding in the labs?”

Lotty laughed as she sat down in the seat of the shuttle by the large round window. “Yes! Yes to both the visitors and the blast shielding. They should be here by the end of the week, after the Council meeting over New Luna One. They’re in the area and are gonna come aboard then instead of trek all the way out here Saturn.”

Windblade took a seat next to her and nodded. “I’ll send Shadow Striker a comm about getting the blast shielding done immediately and to prepare some habsuites for them.”

Velocity got a mischievous twinkle in her optics. “Oh you should just put them together in one habsuite. Not that they’ll recharge much in there anyways, as they spend 99% of their time in their shared lab. Or at least they did on the _Lost Light_.” 

She had a feeling she might have just agreed to help Lotty with some matchmaking as she nodded slowly. They arrived at the station and disembarked into the shuttle bay. Velocity led the way as she had been there before to visit Nickel and the Scavengers. They turned down a hallway and entered the main entryway.

Lotty pointed to the corridor on the left. “Soundwave’s office is at the end of that hallway, last door on the left. I’ll be going for the lift straight ahead as the medbay is up three floors. Feel free to come find me there after you finish your meeting.”

Windblade waved her off as she headed down the hallway to the left. She made it to the last door and found it halfway open already. She peered in to see Soundwave and Cosmos sitting across from each other on the wide ledge of a large observation window featuring Saturn’s rings on the left of the room. Their hands were clasped together as Cosmos chattered animatedly and Soundwave nodded occasionally. Windblade felt like she might be witnessing something private and was about to turn around and find Lotty when Soundwave turned towards her abruptly. Cosmos followed Soundwave’s gaze and when he saw Windblade’s face in the doorway he squeaked and withdrew his hands from Soundwave’s. 

She smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry if I intruded but the door was partly open and...perhaps it would be best if I came at another time. I can go get at tour of the medbay from Nickel and Velocity or go on a walk around the facilities.”

Cosmos started to sputter nervously at her. “Oh no! I know you have an appointment, we ah, we were, uh catching up as he has been off station for a couple days and-”

That was news to Windblade, she had no idea he had been off the station, until just now it seemed. Soundwave cut Cosmos off gently addressing Windblade. “There is no need for that. Cosmos and I can get caught up after our meeting.” Then he turned to the smaller green and yellow bot, his visor glowing a slightly brighter red. “I will come find you later and we can finish our talk then.”

Cosmos’s blue optics crinkled at the corners as he smiled behind his face plate. “Okay. I bet you just can’t wait to hear how my day making repairs with Sky Byte went yesterday.”

He hurried out the door past her and waved goodbye to both of them as Windblade moved further into the room. Soundwave gestured at the two chairs in front of his desk and she sat down in one to face him. She clasped her hands neatly in her lap and sat up, her posture straight and dignified. The bearing of a cityspeaker and diplomat. He sat across from her behind his desk and regarded her with that unreadable face plate and red visor. 

When he didn’t speak first she cleared her vocalizer and began explaining the situation. He listened to her intently as elaborated on what had happened to Starscream and Bumblebee without interrupting. She ended her summary by asking for his assistance. “I know there is no love lost between you and Starscream because there wasn’t any there to begin with but we could really use your help. I’m of course not asking as Cybertron’s first delegate but as a friendly acquaintance who needs assistance.”

Soundwave’s tone was arch when he responded. “Oh? I had thought that wanting to resurrect Starscream might be a matter of global security that multiple parties should be involved in. Also as the leader of a sovereign settlement making such deals with the head of state of another planet as ‘just an acquaintance’ seems patently unwise.”

Ah. It seemed like Soundwave was very used to dealing with Optimus and his especially Autobot tactics. Well, lucky for her she was used to dealing with Decepticons. 

She inclined her head in agreement. “Fair point. How about as a friend then instead of an acquaintance? A friend that would owe you a comparably large, though not too illegal, favor some time in the future in exchange for your help and discretion.”

Soundwave’s visor flickered with interest. “That would be acceptable. Also I see why he likes you. Back before the war, when he wasn’t defrauding rich investors in Kaon, Starscream was much like you. And we both know him well enough to know he loves nothing better than himself.”

She snorted. “I’d like to say he’s trying to turn over a new leaf but it’s always hard to tell with him. He has a dramatic penchant for self-sabotage.”

Windblade thought he might be smiling at that as it tinged his voice a little. “I accept your terms of a future, fairly legal, favor being owed to me. It’s good to see some people genuinely care about him though. He has been a singularly lonely figure for a long time.”

That got her attention, she leaned forward slightly. She could ask him about trines right now. “I don’t want you to tell me all his secrets or anything, but there are some things I think you could answer that would help me understand him better.”

He gripped his chin thoughtfully. “Query: Why do you want to know?”

That took her a moment to parse before she remembered why she was here in the first place, he was a telepath and an empath. She must have been projecting her questions about trines very loudly. She would have to get better at controlling her emotions and thoughts around him. 

She didn’t look at him, instead averting her optics to the corner of his immaculately clean desk. “Well I realized I didn’t understand what one was so I asked Starscream and he explained it well enough. So then I asked him if Bumblebee, myself, and he couldn’t be a trine and he panicked. More than he usually panics at any sort of commitment. So I was wondering if maybe it’s bad form to ask something so casually or if this is just a Starscream thing? The last thing I want to do is make him even more unpredictable.”

Soundwave started and then froze, she flicked her optics back to his faceplate to see him staring at her intensely with his visor. “Had I known that I would have agreed to help you without the favor. I can explain why Stacream reacted that way but it would be better to ask him yourself, trust me. Alternatively you could ask Thundercracker, if you made your intentions clear he would probably tell you as well. You essentially proposed to Starscream and Bumblebee when you suggested that you form a trine, as it is a sparkbond, like that of an amica or conjunx.”

 _Oh!_  

Scrap. 

So that was what he meant when he said she didn’t understand what she was asking of him. She opened her mouth to respond earnestly when he cut her off. “This might be a line of querying for another time. I expect to receive the agreed upon terms and will come visit Nautica and Velocity on the _Tellistrad_ two days from now.”

Windblade made an apologetic noise. “It should probably be several days from now as tomorrow we’re warping to orbit outside of New Luna One. I’m anticipating we’ll be there for several days deliberating over Optimus’s last wishes before warping back here close to Sanctuary Station.”

He seemed to debate it for a second. “I’ll inform Cosmos of my change in plans and accompany you back to the _Tellistrad_ when you and Velocity leave today then. I feel like the matter of Starscream is one that shouldn’t be left to fester.”

She couldn’t argue with that so she simply nodded. She reached out a hand and they shook briefly, she was sure he was smiling behind his battlemask now. 

He gestured towards the door and she followed him as he spoke. “I can give you a brief tour if you would like. If not I will escort you up to the medbay and inform Lotty that I intend to return to the  _ Tellistrad _ with you both today to investigate the Starscream situation.”

She smiled at him genuinely. “I’d love a quick tour if that’s alright, all of the delegates are kinda fascinated with what you’re building here. Especially since you’ve opened up parts of the station to organics now.”

Soundwave led her past the opening atrium towards the elevators at the far end as he spoke. “Yes, several floors of the station now have adequate oxygen atmosphere and the means to support organic life for long periods of time. If you wish to know the particulars of that though you’ll have to speak with Cosmos as he had been in charge of arranging it with the human delegation. We have research labs, medbay, mess hall, and even a movie theater. The most interesting parts of the station are the gardens and the makers spaces though. That is something that our organic friends brought with them that we are adapting to Cybertronian sizing and standards. Art was one of the things we didn’t let ourselves properly develop during the war. It was one of our greatest losses.”

They boarded the elevator and started to rise through the levels of the circular station. She turned to him seriously. “I can only imagine. On Caminus we had art of all kinds; music and dance, painting and sculpture, plays and poetry and novels. To be without that for so long must have really distressed a lot of you. Or at least made you nostalgic. Do you think that’s why a lot of the mechs stationed on Earth absorbed their culture so quickly and enthusiastically? Humans do make a lot of interesting things.”

They got off on the sixth floor ring and he led her down the circular hallway to the observation window on the side. Along the outer rings were rows and rows of what looked like bubble domes. 

He pointed at the closest one and she could see it was full of organic greenery. “ They do indeed. As you probably already know, thanks to the humans own wars and technology their planet is experiencing catastrophic climate change. We’ve agreed to help them combat that and they’ve been growing experimental flora that require higher amounts of CO2 to thrive and in return produce large quantities of oxygen, that is how we have been making the breathable atmosphere here on the station. It’s a joint human/cybertronian effort that will benefit both species in the end.”

She had no idea they were doing that here. She was definitely going to have to ask Cosmos for the specifics if he was willing to give them to her. This could have applications for other joint organic/mechanical vessels in the Cybertronian fleet.  

He pointed to the domes that were closer. “Those other domes contain different biomes and the ones along the inner edge contain workshops for various forms of art and design. Fortress Maximus has taken charge of the fabrication studio as he apparently has an interest in human’s textile and metal printing machines. Several other bots have spearheaded their own areas of interest into making things as well.”

Fascinating! She had no idea something like this was going on at Sanctuary Station. The culture implications alone were staggering. They were sharing artistic techniques and resources cross culturally now, adapting and melding them together in exciting new ways. She would have to get in contact with some of the Camien refugees on Earth and see if they would be interested in perhaps doing some sort of artistic exchange with the artists and crafters here. Their style was still Cybertronian in origin but they had been separated for long enough to develop their own distinct techniques. Maybe the body paints from the Temple of Flame wouldn’t be lost forever, there would be no more made on Caminus but here...here they could start over. That was the point she supposed. A new hope.  

Soundwave responded warmly to her aloud. “Your thoughts are blaringly loud sometimes but I agree. I think that would be an excellent idea. If you like I can get Ratbat to draft the proposal for it and present it for your delegate’s consideration. He’s the station liaison at the moment, although I am considered the official representative to the New Council of Worlds.”

Windblade ducked her head slightly. Yup she definitely needed to get better at shielding her processor. She apologized sincerely, truly she didn’t want to hurt him with the volume of her thoughts. “Ah. I know it must be overwhelming for you sometimes to just get swamped with all these voices and feelings that aren’t your own. I’ll practice my control and do my best not to be a further nuisance in the future.”

Already she was adjusting her internal dialogue and smoothing her responses out, letting the mental shielding bloom wide and strong in her mind. Letting the layers of it lock into place, putting her thoughts, emotions, and memories on different, deeper levels of processing. Soundwave’s visor flashed curiously as he watched her. “Interesting. I’m finding myself more curious about what being a cityspeak actually entails now. Your mental shielding doesn’t appear to need any strengthening, it’s quite strong, I might even have difficulty breaching it if I needed to. What appears to be happening is you’re projection radius is devastatingly powerful and massive in scale. You could make those without telepathic abilities capable of hearing your thoughts if you wanted to.”

That was certainly news to her! 

Windblade hadn’t considered exactly what made her able to interface with Titans without frying her core processor. It was just something she could do. The first time had hurt, a lot, but after that it was like she had been built for it. She could just fall into their thoughts like she was sinking into her own mind to meditate. All cityspeakers were meant to commune with them but Windblade was currently the only bot alive who had ever plugged into a Titan’s core processor and survived. 

Was he suggesting she had some sort of outlier ability like he did? That might explain it, but if so what exactly was the nature of this ability? He’d just suggested she could project her thoughts to others if she tried, what if that meant...

Soundwave looked down at her gravely from behind his visor and mask. “Yes. You could do that as well. If you had the desire to you could probably implant thoughts and actions in other’s minds without anyone ever noticing it. A very dangerous gift indeed. I’d need to work with you to probe the limits of your capabilities but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that this ability is why you weren’t offlined trying to interface with Metroplex the first time. Your voice, it was so large and so loud, that he heard you clearly. He was able to see you so as to not crush you with the weight of his mind and spark, unlike the others who tried to interface with him.” 

_ Windvoice _ . 

Metroplex had been telling her about herself all along. 

Oh by Solus she missed him. Now wasn’t the time to cry, but she suddenly wanted to, there were so many things she hadn’t understood about him. He had tried to tell her in his own way but she hadn’t had the time...and now there would never be time. She wished she could tell him she was sorry for not getting it. Or talk to him one more time.

Then there was Vigilem though. He had said she was so small and insignificant that he could barely see her. But then his entire consciousness had lived inside her frame, alongside her own, and she had been able to handle that for days somehow without dying. Vigilem was the Titan of the Prime of Lies though. It would be shocking if he hadn’t been deceiving her. 

Damn, why hadn’t she examined this sooner? The honest answer was she simply hadn’t had the time. Scrap. 

Soundwave reached out for her but stopped just shy of touching her arm sympathetically. She smiled at him and moved the rest of the way so he was resting a blue hand on her forearm. It was like receiving a full body hug, his consciousness wrapped around hers soothingly. 

She wondered briefly if this was what Cosmos and Soundwave had been doing holding hands before she’d walked in on them. His voice was warm in her head,  _ Yes, although the feelings that I share with him like this are of a more...intimate nature. _ Oh. 

She didn’t want to make assumptions but that was, well she was happy for both of them. They made a cute couple and seemed to care about each other very much. The field cocooned around her rippled with light laughter and she couldn’t help but laugh too. 

He removed his hand and she immediately missed it. The contact had been grounding. Maybe a part of the reason why she had felt so lost and adrift these past few weeks was she hadn’t been able to interface with Metroplex or any of the other Titans. 

That contact might have been an outlet for this ability she didn’t know she had and without it she was unbalanced. Before she interfaced with Metroplex the first time had this ability been inside her or was it a result of a full merging with a Titan? But if that was the case then shouldn’t everyone who ever attempted to interface with Metroplex have it to some degree, and it should have protected them from offlining?

Soundwave looked thoughtful as he answered aloud. “Some bots are born with their outlier abilities and others come into them through extremely stressful situations. Life threatening trauma often causes them to manifest. I would say almost having your processor melted from interfacing with a Titan would count as a very stressful situation. Your ability most likely manifested then to save your life. Because you had no other frame of reference you just assumed all of it was related to merging with Titans instead of something innate in yourself.” 

It made a terrifying amount of sense. It also made the darker implications of this power seem worse. 

She had only gained it, and perhaps unwittingly used it against people, after she got involved actively in Cybertronian politics. This was not good. She wasn’t sure what she could do about it now though, if she had used it to influence people in the past was there anyway to tell? Windblade would actively be watching herself closely going forward to try and stop anything like that from happening. But what about her previous actions? If people knew about this then every decision, every law and regulation she had a hand in, would come under question.

Primus, especially the decarceration bill. Anything to do with Megatron would be scrutinized heavily regardless but if people learned Windblade had the power to influence mechs against their will...

Soundwave spoke sharply at that thought of hers. “No. You might have subconsciously nudged people in one direction or another but most of us do that irregardless of outlier powers or not. If you had truly wanted to sway someone to a course they didn’t want to take you would have had to put effort into it, focused. You would have had to know exactly what you were doing and what you wanted them to do, otherwise they likely would have snapped out of your sway. You haven’t abused this ability yet and I doubt you will going forward. If you like, I can show you how to use it. For good or ill that’s up to you but if you wish to be trained I can assist you.”

She still wasn’t entirely sure, so much of this made too much horrifying sense. Had she only won the election because she had swayed the crowds with something other than her words? Or Starscream’s utterly disastrous confession, had she somehow gotten him to do that against his will? More recently had she coerced Bumblebee into sharing a berth with her last night? That was...none of that was good. Windblade was going to have to be hypervigilant now. Maybe Soundwave could teach her a control technique right now since she still seemed to be projecting wildly at him. Perhaps it had to do with her emotions? She had been out of sorts on so many fronts recently. 

Windblade squared her shoulders and addressed him seriously. “I’d be even more in your debt if you helped me learn to control whatever it is that I have. I would appreciate it if we started now though as I seem to be projecting strongly at you without trying to.”

He shook his head ‘no’ and then gestured for her to follow him back towards the elevator. “You’re not, not really, in fact your control is adequate. I’m sensitive to it because of my own powers, it’s like a low level electromagnetic field all around you. You don’t understand yet because you haven’t done much training outside learning how to shield your thoughts. Windblade, you’re not out control. Throwing your will indiscriminately over all of those around you, pulling them under your thrall against their own wills. To do that you would have to want to. You don’t. We can work on exploring your capabilities another time. I might ask for your help reaching Starscream later today though.”

Hearing that was slightly more comforting than the dark twisting avenues her own thoughts were taking. 

The problem was sometimes she wanted to. It was wrong, on every level, but the temptation was certainly there. She wasn’t divine, no avatar of Primus, only a mech like any other. The stresses of her job were massive. How simple it would be to make others always agree with her...not good. Soundwave remained silent as they took the elevator down to the 3rd level ring of the station with the medbay. 

His silence was comment enough on her thoughts. She was trying to organize them, shield them, and not think them too strongly. It wasn’t an easy balance to strike. So when they opened the door to the medbay and something came flying at her face she really didn’t have the awareness to duck. 

Whatever it was hit her square in the jaw with a wet splat. Nickel, Velocity, and surprisingly Spinister, all looked at her with wide optics for a beat before they all burst out laughing. Well, by their reactions it probably wasn’t harmful, whatever it was. She wiped it off her chin and throat with her hand and looked down at it skeptically. Some sort of green goo? It didn’t smell like much of anything but it was thick and viscous and clung heavily in between her fingers, yuck. 

She made her way over to the med-slab that all three of them were clustered around and Nickel pointed at her excitedly. “Aha! See I told you it would work! The conductivity gel only responds to spark energy, it wasn’t a problem with the chemical synthesis but the source of the electricity!”

Velocity was looking at her skeptically and it was then that she noticed Spinister’s chest had cables running out of it down to a tray of undulating green stuff on the table. Presumably the conductivity gel? Why would they need something like that anyway? She flicked her fingers hard and most of the gel splattered back onto the tray with a whump.

Spinister watched it with interest as it re-assimilated with the mass it had split off from. “Okay. Should I give it some juice again?”

Velocity shouted ‘no!’ at the same time Nickel cackled ‘yes.’ So Spinister just stared at both of them confused.

Thankfully Soundwave chose that moment to interrupt whatever it was that they were doing. “I’m afraid further experimentation will have to wait for now. I am leaving with Windblade to return to the  _ Tellistrad _ before it warps to New Luna One tomorrow. Velocity should accompany us as well because both she and Nautica have the most comprehensive picture of what the situation I’m needed for is.”

Velocity rolled her eyes and muttered. “That’s one way of putting it. He’s certainly been called a ‘situation’ before.”

Nickel looked slightly disappointed though. “Oh! Things were just getting interesting SW! Lotty here is an accidental genius, not like how Spinister is an accidental genius, but still. The practical applications on this gel are intriguing to say the least. Dr. Anja thinks we might be able to use it to stabilize Connie for one.”

Soundwave must have sent her an internal comm because Nickel snapped her mouth shut at that. Suspicious. Something Windblade would have to ask Velocity about later. Something that Soundave didn’t want her to know about. That didn’t sit well with her, but she was trying to hide any unease it was causing her and not project it. It must have worked to some extent because he ignored her curious look in his direction. 

Velocity huffed and patted Nickel on the shoulder before moving over to wipe the remaining goo off of Windblade’s chin and hand with a cloth she took from her subspace, fussing over her absently. “Alright let's get going then. I think Perceptor and Brainstorm are gonna come aboard once we warp to orbit so they can run some more diagnostics then. I’m not sure what you’re going to do Soundwave, but Nautica and I will take extensive readings of it whatever it is.”

He quirked a brow ridge at that but didn’t say anything as all three of them made their way back to the shuttle bay. Windblade was trying to modulate her feelings the whole time, with limited success. 

She hadn’t been ready for that revelation. To be fair she didn’t think anyone would be, though it was hitting her particularly hard. Because this ability would make her job 10,000 times harder. Oh sure if she abused it technically it would make her job pretty easy, but that would make her a tyrant and that was...bad. Ugh, she’d been hanging around Starscream too much if she was hesitant about believing that. But in the end she’d seen a long dark shadow of what that looked like in Starscream and decided she wanted no part in it. No matter how tempting it would be to use it a little bit, just every once and awhile when something was too insurmountable with words alone. 

Pit, thinking like that would lead her down the darkest path she could imagine. She needed to delegate some of her work and quickly. First the decarceration bill. That was the first step.

She ex-vented in and out several times, trying to calm her shaking spark and Lotty looked over at her concerned. “Windblade are you alright? The spark conductive gel is untested so there might be some strange side effects from coming in contact with it. Do you mind if I check your vitals.”

Great. Another thing to worry about. She huffed and shrugged. “Go ahead Lotty. I don’t think it’s affecting me I was actually just thinking over all the things I have to do when we return. It’s a lot.”

Velocity made a sympathetic noise, though she was already scanning Windblade with a medical wand while frowning slightly in concentration. 

The wand chirped quietly and Lotty huffed a little at it. “Well it says everything is working within normal ranges but I want to keep an eye on it. Would you mind wearing this medical monitoring pin till I can check you out in person again tomorrow?”

She whipped out the small silver button shaped object and Windblade nodded wearily as she clipped it to her chest plating. It was probably for the best but already this day was turning out to be exhausting. 

She sent a comm to Bumblebee asking if he could meet her in the medbay for a Starscream related checkup as soon as the shuttle docked in the hanger of the  _ Tellistrad _ . He got back to her as they were in the lift down to the medbay on the lower level. 

Bumblebee: I can come down in about 15 minutes. Who else is gonna be there by the way? Is this an all hands on deck type meeting? I need to know so I can prepare myself for his various ‘reactions.’ You know he loves to get loud.

Windblade rolled her optics and smiled. Before she messaged him back quickly.

_ Windblade: Oh I know. Lotty, Nautica, Soundwave, and I will be there in person. Perceptor and Brainstorm will probably be there over video comm.  _

Bumblebee: Gotcha. See you soon!

Windblade sent him an affirmative ping as she entered the medbay. Nautica gestured for her to sit down on one of the medical berths and both she and Lotty ran around setting up what looked like diagnostic equipment. Soundwave stood next to her silently and she tried not to fidget. Controlling abilities you didn’t even know you possessed until a few hours ago was stressful. Especially next to someone whose mastery of his own very similar abilities made him uniquely suited to judge her for her lack of control on hers. 

Exactly 15 minutes later Bee skidded into the room and greeted all of them before coming up to Soundwave and offering him his hand, before dropping it quickly. “It’s good to see you Soundwave. What you’ve done with Sanctuary Station has been impressive, I’d love to go on a tour when we all get back.”

Soundwave nodded slowly and looked between his face and his hands curiously. Bee didn’t  pay him any attention instead turning to Windblade. “Okay. What do you need me, or I guess him, to do?”

Soundwave made a static noise from his vocalizer and everyone turned to look at him startled. His visor flashed boiling red and then dimmed to a dull red-orange. Silently, almost in slow motion it seemed, he offered his hand to Windblade. 

As she took it she felt that same feeling of his consciousness flowing over her and wrapping her up safely. And she also started to hear him. Starscream not Soundwave. He sounded far away, like his voice was coming from another level of the ship through the temperature control vents.

“Of course you would be able to figure it out wouldn’t you? Typical.”

Something snapped, almost like she was being jerked back and down, or that the world itself had slid several meters to the left rapidly. Then she could see him too. He looked exactly as he had the last time she had laid optics on him. His sturdy bright white, blue, and red frame, and yellow cockpit shone in the harsh light of medbay. His red optics were narrowed in his handsome dark gray face as he pointed at angry blue finger at Soundwave. 

It was so good to see him, to hear him even if he sounded far away. Soundwave murmured in the upper levels of her mind,  _ Focus more on his voice, push the feedback noises from the medical bay out of your perception. _

She clenched her jaw and mumbled out loud. “Starscream leave him alone, he’s trying to help.”

He rounded on her then, his scowl pointed squarely in her direction. “You don’t even know what I’m saying to this telepathic pain in the aft! So don’t you dare condescend to me about it. Not that you’ll hear any of that sentence either, well unless Bee decides to tell on me.”

That did it, she was able to focus on his voice for long enough to draw it into focus, and with another flux of their surroundings she could both see and hear him clearly. Windblade wondered how long it would last and if she could wait to tell him she could actually see and hear him. He didn’t need to know immediately right? 

Soundwave was amused by that, she knew for sure as she could feel it through whatever telepathic connection they were sharing. His voice was an audible smirk as it came from all around her,  _ While that would be entertaining, for all of us, in the interest of expediency you should tell him now. Also I believe you will be able to maintain this state without me if you practice.    _

She ex-vented and responded to Starscream directly meeting his optics as she spoke. “Bee hasn’t told on you but Soundwave here is helping me see and hear you exactly like Bee does so maybe watch what you say. That’s not me condescending to you so much as giving you a friendly heads up.”

His optics went wide as he took a step back. “You’re not serious? And what the hell is going on with the two of you? You both look, unstable isn’t the right word. Although tragically human in origin, I think the correct word is wiggly.”

She snorted at that and turned away from him to look at Soundwave. He didn’t appear terribly different to her but now that Star had pointed it out there was, a sort of shimmer around him? It looked like heat waves coming off of a super charged conductor, warping the air around it, causing everything she saw through that air to look wavy. 

Soundwave responded to that out loud. “I am displacing some of the processing electrical power required to achieve this through my auxiliary power breakers. It is causing my frame to heat the air around it visibly. Windblade’s frame is also rerouting a large amount of electricity but we both will eventually start to melt internal circuitry before we melt plating so don’t worry about the visible heat. I calculate we can both maintain this safely for several hours.”

Why wasn’t the fact that he hadn’t mentioned that immediately worrying to her? 

She didn’t feel like she was using an extreme amount of electrical current right now, she felt a little light headed, but that wasn’t too noticeable either. But as soon as she thought about it all the error messages and warning lights that had gotten pushed to the edge of her HUD started blinking angrily at her. Ah. 

Windblade had been following Soundwave’s guidance and focusing around them but now they were back trying to block out her view of an incredulous Screamer. Soundwave’s voice was soft,  _ Don’t worry about those, your systems will be sending you many more if you keep training with me. Focus on him. Use his emotions to ground you. Like this you can feel him clearly can’t you? _

She did as he instructed and tried to focus on reaching out towards Starscream, her consciousness brushing up against his chest. In that light touch she felt: frustration, elation, longing, anger, and affection as Starscream stumbled backwards from her as if he had been shoved.

Her optics went wide as he pointed at her angrily. “You! Don’t go using all of his tricks, they’re dirty and unbecoming an Autobot! Soundwave stop teaching her  _ things _ ! She’s doesn’t need to know how to be even more annoyingly self-righteous and nosy than she already is.”

Soundwave spoke in a monotone out loud. “She has asked to learn how to control her abilities. I will show her all of my ‘tricks’ so you’d best get ready to be more forthright with her. You could stand to be more honest in general but I won’t get my hopes up.”

Starscream sneered and rolled his optics. “Says the Last True Decepticon. Spare me  _ that _ particular lecture Soundwave. We both know that’s never going to happen. As for you Windblade, keep your ernest consciousness to yourself! I did not give you permission to go fishing around in my processor, back off!”

She threw her hands up trying to placate him. “Understood. I won’t do that again without your permission. Sorry Starscream.”

He huffed and crossed his arms not looking at her now. Bumblebee had watched the whole exchange in shock and then excitement. He was probably glad some more people could see Starscream now and he would maybe stop harassing just him so much. Maybe. 

Lotty and Nautica were chattering excitedly with Brainstorm on the comm screen as they fed him read outs from the diagnostic machines they had set up facing them all over the medbay. She raised a brow ridge at them but they didn’t seem to notice her at all. Soundwave’s voice rolled over the upper layers of her thoughts again wryly,  _ Now that he knows you can hear him don’t expect him to ever shut up about you using your powers to “abuse” him. You may take it seriously but he’s only saying it to get under your plating, or into your paneling as the case may be.   _

Windblade gaped at Soundwave in shock. She had not been expecting that from the cassette carrier. He just...huh. She was quickly recalculating her original impression of Soundwave. 

He smiled at her through their joined fields and then addressed Starscream vocally. “She won’t intentionally probe your defenses Starscream but as she learns she will reach out for your mind, it will be more of a handshake than a full systems invasion. Do not treat it as such if you want her to actually master her abilities enough to leave you alone.”

Starscream made a sour face at that and glowered at both of them. “I’d prefer she not master them, or use them, or even have them but here we are. Whatever. It’s not like she could ever actually breach all the layers of my mind’s defenses so I suppose it wouldn’t hurt anything to let her stumble around in the upper levels.”

She was going to tell him she wouldn’t even do that if he didn’t want her to, but Soundwave stopped her. Ah that’s right, Starscream was exaggerating. 

Soundwave ex-vented. “I think we’ve established the parameters of what channel of perception we need to be on to see him. That should be sufficient enough research until you return. I have a feeling your scientists will be busy exploring the new possibilities of this technology for a long time.”

He looked from Windblade over to where Nautica and Brainstorm were shouting at each other through the screen. Then in her consciousness he spoke,  _ This should be the first step in them finding out how to take a spark print from a compressed dimension and use it to ignite a full spark in new frame. I expect them to share the information with Nickel and the scientists on Sanctuary Station as well. _

She frowned and nodded in agreement. Yeah, they were definitely up to something over there on Sanctuary Station, but what was the question. Also was it dangerous or some sort of clever scheme? And Windblade absolutely couldn’t let him know she was automatically suspicious now, even though he probably already suspected she was. He had been a spymaster for several million years after all.

Also she knew this research could be important to any number of fields and scientists and as much as she wanted to she probably couldn’t just give it out for free. The weaponry applications alone would cause trouble for them with the Galactic Council. 

Instead she sent back her own words into his mind and he jolted once minutely in surprise,  _ That seems fair since you have been such a huge help. But that counts as your big favor, we shouldn’t be handing out the data from this to everyone at the moment. _

That seemed to satisfy him because he nodded and then slowly let go of her hand. Again her reality shuddered visibly and she felt herself slip fully back into her own frame. Whoah. 

She hadn’t realized she’d been out of it a little bit. It felt completely different from when she interfaced with Metroplex. That always felt big. Windblade used to feel like she was floating in a large open air space, the sky stretching out all around her. It felt a little bit like the weightless drop of her fuel tanks before she hit her jets and rocketed up into the atmosphere. This was different. It felt like being pulled thin, stretched like a cable vibrating and tight in all different directions. 

She started a little when she was fully back and Soundwave looked at her for a moment with concern before turning back to address Bumblebee and Velocity respectively. “It was good to see you again Bumblebee, even with your bothersome spectral escort shouting at me the whole time. Velocity, please send all relevant data from this exercise to Nickel at your earliest convenience. With all of that settled I will return to the station. Comm me when you’re ready to train again Windblade.”

He nodded acknowledgement at all of them, even at the space where Starscream had been, and Windblade realized Soundwave could still see him! Maybe she could still see if him if she tried. 

Reaching out like she had before she focused on the feel of him. Angry, lonely, fearful, proud, elated, he was excited! She focused on that, and the shape of him came into being before her. Almost like an outline of building schematics, all sketchy perpendicular lines. Her optics weren’t on the correct feed, she needed to adjust them. But as she reached again to try Starscream darted away from her, floating over in a blur to hide behind Bumblebee. She couldn’t see his lips moving but she heard some garbled words and quiet static coming from his direction. Yeah she definitely needed to practice. 

Avoiding whatever he was yelling at her she got up off the med slab and walked over to Bee. “Hey I’m going to head back to my habsuite to do some more of the backlog like I promised Shadow Striker I wouldn’t do. Do you want to come with me or-?”

Bumblebee looked at her amused and then ex-vented hard to his right. “No, I should probably go work on my own backlog in my hab. It’s not nearly as terrifying as yours but there are a few deep space comms I should answer from Galactic Council members. We should meet up tomorrow before the New Council Meeting and go over the early proposals you’re bound to get from Carcer’s delegation.”

Windblade had a feeling that suggestion came from Starscream, but she shrugged. “Sounds good, and I promise I will recharge again tonight. Healthy habits and all that.”

He laughed and winked at her as they both waved at Nautica and Velocity on their way out.

When she got back to her habsuite she groaned loudly and flopped face first onto her berth. Tomorrow they would warp to orbit around New Luna One and the New Council of Worlds would begin hearing arguments for what to do about Optimus’s will. She should be focused on that. 

Instead she couldn’t stop thinking about all the things she had learned today. About herself, about Soundwave, and especially about Starscream. Windblade grumbled as she rolled over onto her back, flicking her wings out to make room. 

She yelped and scrambled away from the sensation as she felt her wing hit something solid that crackled with fuzzy electric charge. 

The medical pin on her chest beeped angrily as her spark did triple time in her chest. She couldn’t see anything that might have caused that sensation in the empty air next to her berth. Oh. 

Windblade focused, pulling her awareness in and then pushing it out till it bumped into something, she wrapped her field around it and the object came into focus showing her a very familiar frame. 

She used her fear and anger as a conduit and suddenly his voice filled her internal comm waves like she had just tuned into the correct channel. “How in the nine levels of the pit did that happen!? She shouldn’t be able to...I shouldn’t be able to, not even with Bee! This is somehow Soundwave’s fragging fault! Him and his freak powers and his-”

She frowned at his shape as the colors of him came into fuzzy relief as well. Blurry but there. Better. “Starscream. It’s not Soundwave’s fault, er, whatever that was.”

The red glowing blobs on his face got brighter as he pointed at her, actually hitting her in the chest with his finger. 

Both of them stared at the solid point of contact blankly for a moment before she realized she could see his blue finger just as clearly as if he were physical. And she could feel it too, it was colder than a bot usually was and tingled a little like static electricity but it was solid. 

Before she could say anything he pressed his whole hand flat against her chest. She did look up into his awed face then. He was still looking down at his hand where it was actually not ghosting through her plating in open wonder. Her spark spun brighter underneath his hand and the medical pin started blaring again. That got his attention and he jerked his hand back. His image instantly shifted out of focus again and she had to concentrate hard to just pick up the shapes of him. Contact helped her connect and control this! It seemed to help Soundwave do certain things as well. She reached out and grabbed his arm and pulled him down towards her without thinking about the physics of it. 

He wasn’t expecting it and flailed screeching before landing on top of her. 

Honestly she was relieved he hadn’t drawn a weapon on her in his surprise, she wouldn’t have been surprised if his ghost form was still just as heavily armed as his usual body. Not that getting shot by an incorporeal null wave would have the same effect on her now. 

Well maybe it would as she could feel his weight pushing down on her chest, hips and thighs heavy like...like he was actually on top of her. Ah. It shouldn’t have felt so good, it did though, scrap. 

The contact all along her frame brought him into focus and his optics were blown wide in shock. He could feel her too it seemed. Starscream was biting his lip, making a very panicked expression. He looked at her like she was the one pinning him down under her body now, not the other way around.

She heard her cooling fans try to click on and shut them down immediately. That was not, she didn’t need to think about how complicated things were between them right now. Starscream heard it though he went even more rigid against her, but he still didn’t move away. Which, she didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried about that reaction. 

Windblade huffed out softly while still looking at him. “Contact helps me focus. I can see and hear you clearly when we’re touching otherwise you’re blurry looking and your voice is far away and full of static.”

She watched his neck cables move as he swallowed before addressing her with an airy sneer. “That doesn’t...that doesn’t explain why we can physically touch, our why you’re insisting we have to be touching like this right now.”

He still didn’t try to move though. Hm. Windblade pushed that very encouraging fact out of her processor lest she do something highly inadvisable, like try to kiss him.  

She wasn’t sure why they were able to physically touch but it was...something. The medical monitor beeped again and Starscream looked at it with reproach. “Why are you wearing that ridiculous thing?”

Wait. 

The goo from earlier was able to super conduct spark energy. Hadn’t Soundwave mentioned that Starscream was made of spark energy, like a remnant, a shadow of a complete spark floating through compressed dimensions? Maybe the gel had really seeped into her systems and was affecting her after all. Which meant this should be temporary right? 

She reset her vocalizer and moved the brace her hands on his chest but she didn’t move to push him off. Her hands hit him with a soft clink and he visibly shivered at the contact. She needed to ignore that. 

Windblade coughed slightly. “It’s because I was exposed to some untested chemicals earlier while on Sanctuary Station, specifically a super conducting gel that only works on spark energy. The monitor is beeping because my spark is uh...fluctuating right now. That might be why we can touch by the way, it’ll probably, hm, wear off soon.”

His expression completely changed at that, going from slightly anxious and closed to very smug and a little bit hungry. “Is it? Does this position...make you nervous? Don’t worry it won’t last for long” He said that last part as he leaned in and ghosted his lips over the side of her face, barely touching her with them as he spoke. 

She couldn’t help it, the traitorous spark monitor squeaked and beeped alarmed, she hissed at the contact. And then he was moving away, pushing himself up off of her as he stood stood up. She thought he would stop touching her all together but he let his hand trail lightly down her wing, and brought it to stop at her wing tip as he stood over her on the berth. 

His optics were mischievous as he rubbed the tip of it between his two fingers. She shuddered at the deliciously slow contact and the monitor beeped again. She would have crushed it in embarrassment but that probably would have sent the wrong sort of message to Lotty and she didn’t want to worry her. 

Not that the read outs it was sending her about this would be...comforting. Starscream was...dangerous, in more ways than one. Windblade did NOT need to examine why that thought made the medical monitor blare right now.

He was watching her reactions avidly as he stroked down the edge of her wing tip towards her turbines. Now she was biting her lip to stop from making any encouraging noises, he didn’t deserve them. He was just doing this to be aft...probably. Ugh Starscream. 

When she spoke it was strained and laced with static. “We need to be touching for me to see you properly right now but you don’t have to be touching me like...like that.”

He put on a mock innocent expression and squeezed her wing between his fingers harder. She had to actively try not to squirm at the sensation. It did feel good. Damnit. He was entirely too self satisfied right now. “What? You don’t like this? Or is it that you prefer our previous position? It’s just my wicked luck that you’re the one who can touch me in this ghost state, even if it’s  temporary. It seems like the universe is still taunting me.”

That last bit was interesting, what did he mean by that? Did he want to be able to touch someone else, or to touch her differently? She could see and feel him as if he was real and tangible. That made the reality of this whole situation hit her like a wave of cold water. 

She jerked her wing out of his grip and he went fuzzy around the edges before she leaned up and grabbed him by his collar faring and jerked him down to look her in the face. “If I want you to stop touching me, believe me, you’ll know it. As for the rest of it what are you doing here Starscream, you came here before you knew you were tangible to me, why?”

He looked nervous again as he jerked out of her grip. She didn’t reach out for him again but instead focused on him hard. He was still a little fuzzy around the edges but she could still see and hear him well enough.

Starscream sniffed and looked nervous before settling on his most common haughty expression. “If you must know I was simply going to watch you to see if you actually recharged. Or if I was going to need to tell Bee you weren’t taking care of yourself properly like you promised.”

She pointed at him frustrated. “You absolute hypocrite!”

Then her processor caught up with her vocalizer and she realized what he actually said was he was worried about her. And wanted to make sure she was alright, just in a very Starscream-style way. Subterfuge and tattling. 

He opened his mouth affronted ready to shout when she cut him off. “You can stay if you want to.”

That made his mouth snap shut and he looked down at her hard while muttering. “What!?”

She ex-vented and offlined her optics, oddly that made him come into focus a bit better. Starscream was now a glowing series of Starscream colored, blocked out shapes. “You can stay like Bee did. If you don’t want to that’s fine but I’m extending you the same offer I did him. Recharge with me. While the gel is still affecting me we can even cuddle if you want.”

He made a scoffing noise at that and was about to say something snide when she cut him off again. “Look if you want it can be as a favor to me, I’ll owe you one, I always get better recharge when there’s someone here with me. I know, I know, not very Cybertronian of me, too trusting, etc etc. Go if you want to, but if you stay you’re gonna lay down here with me. I’ll know if you say you’re leaving but then try and stick around and watch me anyway.”

He huffed and moved towards her, slowly sinking down next to her on the berth, falling through the top of it slightly so that he had to levitate a little bit over it as he laid down next to her. “You know I don’t need to recharge in this form right?”

She smiled but didn’t online her optics as she reached out to put her hand on his chest and shoulder, snuggling in closer to him. He came into full view in her processor as a glowing negative with bright white lines on black. He looked nervous again so she tried to placate him. “I know. I figured you could do two things at once since you’re such a talented mech. Help me recharge, and watch me to make sure I actually recharge.”

He grunted and moved his arms up around her shoulders, pulling her flush against his chest. She could tell he was trying not to smile. The medical monitor beeped once before she could calm her systems down a little bit but he just snorted leaned his chin on top of her head. “You know I hate this right?”

Windblade hummed happily, her turbines rotating lazily as she nuzzled her face into the hollow between his chest and neck. He was still colder than a normal bot. A little zing of static electricity was still passing between them constantly in every place they were touching. But he felt nice and solid wrapped around her like this. Starscream felt comforting. Today was truly full of wonders. 

She was half-way into recharge as she whispered “Oh I know. This is just a favor for me, thanks by the way.”

When he spoke his engine rumbled up her neck and face and it made her shiver a little, the medical monitor beeped once loudly and then went silent. His voice sounded smug and little strained as he spoke into the top of her head among her gold and blue finials. “Don’t mention it. Seriously. Never mention this to anyone.”

She made a noncommittal noise as she twined her knees with his, he shifted slightly to push her wings up and pull her in as close as she could get. 

Yes this was definitely not something he was enjoying just as much as she was. Of course. She would have had to online her optics to roll them properly so she didn’t. Bee was right, he was more tactile than she had suspected. Not that she was complaining. And just think, soon she could do this with both of them. 

That thought almost woke her all the way up but she was too comfortable. Still working on a definite recharge deficit she was sinking deeper into sleep. Being held like this was simply too relaxing. At least she was going to be well rested for what promised to be an...explosive council meeting tomorrow.  


She might have dreamed it, but it felt like he kissed her forehead as she finally dropped into a comfortably deep recharge.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I guess I accidentally wrote two Big Bangs this year oops. This baby is turning out longer than I thought it would be but I love it???? Also we got to the part where "No Cybertron for Old Men" starts so that's good! These two fics overlap in the timeline after this chapter so you can kinda of read that one and this one at the same time and see what's happening with Windblade and Minimus simultaneously. Which is kinda really cool actually...but read this one first if you want the whole picture of what happens before No Cybertron for Old Men starts. 
> 
> Also this chapter was hella long and so much happened where do I even start? For one I was always unsatisfied with how multiple characters in the comics wondered how Windblade could interface with a Titan without dying...and never explained that. This is my explanation for it. Hope everyone likes where this is going. I love Windblade and she is definitely "The Special" for many reasons lol. Also gotta love Soundwave and me shoving background ships in this fic as much as possible. Coswave is a fav.
> 
> In my fic's continuity neither Soundwave nor Cosmos died and Sanctuary Station received minimal damage from the lol Maximals during the events of Unicron. Instead Optimus and Shockwave were the ones to stop Unicron and perish into the void. I may tie one of my WIPS up with what happened to Shockwave and OP after that but we'll see. 
> 
> And Elita and Obsidian also obviously survived Unicron but Carcer aka lobotomized Vigilem didn't. Trypticon is the last remaining Titan except for the lost Titan (Megatronus's/the Fallen's Titan) so Windblade is gonna probably have a chat with him on Earth very soon. 
> 
> Also I had to throw in some Windbee/Windstar action because it's Windscream week woo! This fic counts for both Starbee Week and Windscream week because I trine everyone. And my Big Bang works for the last day of MiniMegs week woo! I looooveeee writing fixit fic lol. 
> 
> And yeah still no sexy times because I'm the ruler of UST. I love it, I refuse to apologize. You all must suffer with me. But the fluff will make up for the suffering...yes good.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Happy Starbee week this is my post for the prompt "OT3" because I will trine everyone damnit. This is also the prequel/tandem fic to my Transformers Big Bang called "No Cybertron for Old Men." I'm in the canon tying up/fixing all the loose ends. 
> 
> For this continuity Optimus died along with Shockwave to take down Unicron together. This allowed Soundwave to survive and help Cosmos protect Sanctuary Station. The station was damaged but not destroyed and neither of them died. In this timeline I fudged Unicron a bit and made it happen a year after the Lost Light returns. Megatron was sentenced to eternal imprisonment before Unicron and thus when folks read Optimus's Will it's specifically designed to free Megatron. 
> 
> You'll be getting Minimus's and Megatron's perspective on all this in NCFOM but this fic will focus on Windblade, Starscream, and Bumblebee and what they're doing to rebuild Cybertron.


End file.
